World Cup Women’s World Cup Possible World Cup Blackout

[Oxymoron]

FIFA greed or under-valuing the women's game?

Fifa threatens Women's World Cup European blackout

Fifa president Gianni Infantino threatens a broadcast blackout for the Women's World Cup in Europe unless TV companies improve their rights offers.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[SteMerritt]

Unfortunately in commercial terms comparing the women's WC to the men's WC just isn't something you can do. The World Cup is arguably the biggest sporting occasion on this planet, and as such has a higher commercial value that just about anything else.

I'd also suggest that the location for the tournament will be quite detrimental to people in Europe actually being able to watch the games, I'd assume they will most likely be on from about midnight through to maybe 10am in the morning? You aren't going to get massive viewing figures at those times of day.

 

[Followtheox1]

Unfortunately in commercial terms comparing the women's WC to the men's WC just isn't something you can do. The World Cup is arguably the biggest sporting occasion on this planet, and as such has a higher commercial value that just about anything else.

I'd also suggest that the location for the tournament will be quite detrimental to people in Europe actually being able to watch the games, I'd assume they will most likely be on from about midnight through to maybe 10am in the morning? You aren't going to get massive viewing figures at those times of day.

I am a big supporter of the women's game and I am a big proponent of growing the female game as much as possible but this blanket call for equal pay misses the point. There is an 'ism' at play here but it's not sexism! It's plain and simply capitalism! The more money you make for commercial entities, the more money you get paid. It's why female models get paid more than male models and why international male footballers get paid more than female footballers.

 

[bashamwonderland]

It's almost like audiences aren't particularly interested in watching semi-pro level football on TV.

Who'd have thought it.

 

[Yellowmania]

I wouldn’t believe for a minute that all the extra money would be reinvested in women’s football. More likely it’ll be lining FIFA’s nest somehow.

 

[tonyw]

I am a big supporter of the women's game and I am a big proponent of growing the female game as much as possible but this blanket call for equal pay misses the point. There is an 'ism' at play here but it's not sexism! It's plain and simply capitalism! The more money you make for commercial entities, the more money you get paid. It's why female models get paid more than male models and why international male footballers get paid more than female footballers.

Agree with this argument 100% with respect to any commercial broadcasting entity that's bidding for the rights, and thinking about selling advertising time and/or subscriptions.

Does it apply to the BBC though, as it's currently funded? Both Men's and Women's World Cup finals are listed events, so it's not like they have to compete with pay services - whoever wins the rights has to make the games available free-to-air. Not saying that an equal fee is appropriate, but reports seem to suggest that they're offering 10-20x less.
Supposedly viewership for the Women's Euros peaked at 17.4m - which wasn't that far below the peak TV audience in Qatar (21.3m), and more than half what the Men's Euros final pulled in.

I sure as hell don't want them giving taxpayer money to FIFA for no good reason; but it does look like the BBC are offering an order of magnitude less in what is basically a closed bidding process. I'd probably be pissed if I was a female footballer......

 

[SteMerritt]

Agree with this argument 100% with respect to any commercial broadcasting entity that's bidding for the rights, and thinking about selling advertising time and/or subscriptions.

Does it apply to the BBC though, as it's currently funded? Both Men's and Women's World Cup finals are listed events, so it's not like they have to compete with pay services - whoever wins the rights has to make the games available free-to-air. Not saying that an equal fee is appropriate, but reports seem to suggest that they're offering 10-20x less.
Supposedly viewership for the Women's Euros peaked at 17.4m - which wasn't that far below the peak TV audience in Qatar (21.3m), and more than half what the Men's Euros final pulled in.

I sure as hell don't want them giving taxpayer money to FIFA for no good reason; but it does look like the BBC are offering an order of magnitude less in what is basically a closed bidding process. I'd probably be pissed if I was a female footballer......

That's all well and good, but the games in Qatar and in Euro 2020 were played in a much more friendly time. Games from Australia won't be, as anyone who follows cricket will know. The value of any deal will be significantly lower due to this alone.

 

[tonyw]

That's all well and good, but the games in Qatar and in Euro 2020 were played in a much more friendly time. Games from Australia won't be, as anyone who follows cricket will know. The value of any deal will be significantly lower due to this alone.

BBC paid the same amount for the Men's World Cup rights in 2002 in Japan/Korea that they paid for 2006 in Germany (£80m). Despite only one of them involving getting up at 7am for the matches (the deal was actually done for the two tournaments combined, but the rights holders had previous turned down an offer of £55m for Japan/Korea alone, so it was widely reported as £80m for each).

The UK World Cup TV rights deal is not a proper negotiation based on the actual value of the rights, because the UK Government keeps its hands on the scale by eliminating the possibility of any subscription service making money from the tournament. So it basically comes down to what's the minimum that BBC/ITV can offer that FIFA will accept.

If the BBC are genuinely offering less than 10% what they offered for the Men's rights last year, I would probably go the 'public shaming' route as well if I was Infantino. The threat of not allowing the games to be shown at all is the only negotiating leverage FIFA have.

 

[Marked Ox]

As the last Women's WC was bundled in with the Men's WC, I assume the next Men's WC rights will reduce by the same amount as paid for the Women's WC......


Also, if FIFA want the market to drive the value of media rights for the Men's WC higher then he can't complain when the market also decides a far lower value for the Women's WC than he wants. He seems to want his cake and to eat it.

 

[Followtheox1]

Agree with this argument 100% with respect to any commercial broadcasting entity that's bidding for the rights, and thinking about selling advertising time and/or subscriptions.

Does it apply to the BBC though, as it's currently funded? Both Men's and Women's World Cup finals are listed events, so it's not like they have to compete with pay services - whoever wins the rights has to make the games available free-to-air. Not saying that an equal fee is appropriate, but reports seem to suggest that they're offering 10-20x less.
Supposedly viewership for the Women's Euros peaked at 17.4m - which wasn't that far below the peak TV audience in Qatar (21.3m), and more than half what the Men's Euros final pulled in.

I sure as hell don't want them giving taxpayer money to FIFA for no good reason; but it does look like the BBC are offering an order of magnitude less in what is basically a closed bidding process. I'd probably be pissed if I was a female footballer......

It's an interesting point you make about the BBC. I guess what the BBC do have to do is be very careful in terms of how they spend licence fee money in relation to value for money. Given the article seems to indicate that the main European countries broadcasters are all being criticized, that whatever the BBC is offering is the going rate or thereabouts.

 

[boogaloo]

It is 100% greed by FIFA nothing else. let's suppose a UK broadcaster came out of the blue and offer £300million. Would Mr Infantino turn round and say, "ooh, that's a bit too much?". Of course he wouldn't.

If he cares about the women's game as he says he would accept whatever the highest offer is, even if it is below his expectations. He claims that the low offer is not fair towards women's football, so denying the fans of that nation the ability to watch the games on TV is fair towards women's football?

FIFA claim that their obligation is to grow the game across the world. B*llocks is it! Seems Mr Infantino is no different to his predecessor.

 

[SteMerritt]

It is 100% greed by FIFA nothing else. let's suppose a UK broadcaster came out of the blue and offer £300million. Would Mr Infantino turn round and say, "ooh, that's a bit too much?". Of course he wouldn't.

If he cares about the women's game as he says he would accept whatever the highest offer is, even if it is below his expectations. He claims that the low offer is not fair towards women's football, so denying the fans of that nation the ability to watch the games on TV is fair towards women's football?

FIFA claim that their obligation is to grow the game across the world. B*llocks is it! Seems Mr Infantino is no different to his predecessor.

How very dare you question him. He, of course, managed to get a really good sponsorship deal for the Women's World Cup with the help of Saudi Arabia, then have for some reason which nobody could have predicted had to go back on it because it made people angry. How was he supposed to know that would cause an issue? He's only trying to get the money back lost from that...

 

[chuckbert]

Unfortunately in commercial terms comparing the women's WC to the men's WC just isn't something you can do. The World Cup is arguably the biggest sporting occasion on this planet, and as such has a higher commercial value that just about anything else.

I'd also suggest that the location for the tournament will be quite detrimental to people in Europe actually being able to watch the games, I'd assume they will most likely be on from about midnight through to maybe 10am in the morning? You aren't going to get massive viewing figures at those times of day.

Not so good for Europe, but the UTC+8 time zone includes 24% of the worlds population, including some serious gambling markets, so there might still be value in it.