FIFA threatens TV failure World Cup women in Europe

The president of football’s global governing body on Tuesday harshly criticized European broadcasters for failing to meet FIFA’s demands for significantly higher television rights fees for this summer’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. If the offers did not improve, he threatened, the tournament’s matches would not be televised in many of Europe’s biggest markets.

“It is our moral and legal obligation not to underestimate the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. an appearance at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. “Therefore, if the offers continue to be unfair, we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup to the ‘Big 5’ European countries,” he added. That group includes England, Germany, France, Spain and Italy – all sending teams to the tournament.

Infantino released unverifiable numbers and labeled the offers for the World Cup rights as “a slap in the face” not just to the World Cup players, but to women in general.

The comments escalated a battle that Infantino started last year when he and FIFA rejected initial offers for rights to the women’s championship from several countries as far too low. At the time, he described the fight as one for fairness, and he has since positioned himself as a champion of women’s football by raising the prize money for this year’s tournament and pledging to equate it with the men’s World Cup by 2027.

But he will need hundreds of millions of dollars from broadcasters and sponsors to fulfill those promises, and his threat that the games will not be broadcast in Europe – a major driver of the growth of the women’s game – carries serious risks.

With just over two months to go before the start of the tournament in Australia and New Zealand and little sign of a deal, the dispute threatens to eclipse the biggest Women’s World Cup to date. FIFA has expanded the event to 32 teams for the first time as a sign of its commitment to growing the women’s game, and it has increased player prize money and support money for participating teams to $150 million, a fivefold increase from the previous tournament , which was held in France in 2019.

Infantino had hoped that much of that commitment would be financed by higher rights fees from international broadcasters. But in a rebuke to media companies, both during last year’s World Cup draw in Auckland and at the annual FIFA meeting in Rwanda in March, he said that was not the case. Each time, he lashed out at the television companies for not paying more for a product whose ratings, he said, had proven to be growing in popularity.

With little movement since then, he took an even tougher stance in his final remarks.

“I therefore call on all players, fans, football officials, presidents, prime ministers, politicians and journalists around the world to join us in supporting this call for fair compensation for women’s football,” he said, while addressing his repeated comments. on his Instagram account. “Women deserve it. It’s that simple.”

While women’s football in the United States – where a TV deal has been signed – and in Europe has seen more investment and viewership in recent years, the numbers for even the biggest matches are often significantly lower than comparable men’s football matches, and less attractive matches sometimes struggle to attract crowds even at the stadium. Broadcasters also appear to be taking a cautious stance on valuing World Cup women’s rights that have never been on the market before. This year, FIFA has separated the women’s tournament from the men’s tournament for the first time; previously, the women’s rights were bundled as an extra when bidding for the men’s World Cup rights.

While Infantino acknowledges that playing the tournament in Australia and New Zealand could be a factor for broadcasters in Europe, Infantino nevertheless said that the amounts currently being offered for the tournament are a fraction of what FIFA considers its true value. He noted that while viewing figures for the women’s tournament are 50 to 60 percent of those for the men’s World Cup, the amounts bid for the women’s games have been much lower: in Europe alone, he said, they were “20 to 100 times lower than for the FIFA World Cup for men.”

“While broadcasters pay $100-200 million for the men’s FIFA World Cup,” Infantino said, “they are only offering $1-10 million for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. This is a slap in the face to all major FIFA Women’s World Cup broadcasters. players and even of all women worldwide.”

There is significant interest in women’s football in Britain, Europe’s largest market, which peaked last year when England beat Germany to win the European Championship on home soil. That final was played in front of a packed Wembley Stadium and was watched by more than 17 million people on television, the highest audience for a televised women’s match in Britain. The figure for the final represented 35 percent of the total global audience for the game, according to data from European football’s governing body.

However, the same data shows how certain women’s games attract large audiences in certain markets, but points to concerns among broadcasters about ratings for games without premium teams in a tournament that will feature more games than ever. According to news media reports, the BBC and ITV – the two main UK broadcasters – have bid around £9 million ($11.2 million) for the World Cup rights, the highest among European broadcasters. The offer from Italy is about $1 million.

The inability of FIFA and broadcasters to finalize rights deals in the next two months does not necessarily mean that the games will not be available to fans in Europe. FIFA officials have previously discussed possible alternatives, including broadcasting the games on FIFA’s own streaming platform or YouTube channel. However, such a move would come with its own risks, both by reducing ratings and revenue for an event – and a sport – that FIFA has promised to grow.