‘Television providers outbid ESPN in battle for Eredivisie rights’
NOS News–
An alliance of television providers KPN, VodafoneZiggo, T-Mobile and Delta has outbid sports channel ESPN to get its hands on the Eredivisie rights. This is what De Telegraaf and VI report. The cable companies’ bid would earn the Eredivisie clubs over 200 million euros annually. Over a contract period of ten years (2025-2035), a sum of over 2 billion euros could be divided.
The companies reportedly submitted their bid yesterday to director Eredivisie CV Jan de Jong and the media committee of the Eredivisie clubs. These are taking the bid into consideration. From the amount now being offered, the clubs’ costs have already been deducted, according to both media.
According to De Telegraaf, the cable operators have promised Jan de Jong to keep Eredivisie soccer affordable and widely available.
ESPN bid was already substantially higher
The final offer of the television providers that both media are now writing about is considerably higher than that of the American ESPN, the current rights holder. That company had already submitted a bid of over one and a half billion euros for the same period. Although lower than the cable providers’ bid, that is already a huge difference from the 1 billion euros that Fox Sports (now ESPN) paid for the rights in 2012.
The Telegraaf writes that amassing the Eredivisie rights seemed like a done deal for ESPN. Although the newspaper reported last week that TV providers had made a proposal to make soccer more widely available on television, Eredivisie clubs wanted clarity on an amount as soon as possible, and there was none yet. The intention would have been to put the ESPN bid to a vote on May 8.
