Historically, broadcasting has been the primary driving source of revenues as well as a measure of popularity for the European ‘big five’ leagues. The situation is at an interesting junction currently. While Premier League’s appeal has seemingly increased with the confirmation of an elevated international media rights value, at the same time Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1 are forced to explore the DTC option in a key market like the UK
In this blog we will try to understand the rising dominance of Premier League and the widening revenue gap vis-à-vis other leagues
Premier League: Rising Value
The Premier League’s increasing media rights value is a testament to its global popularity. What’s most interesting is the growth in its international media rights value over the last two deal period and subsequently overshadowing its domestic rights value share. While the domestic rights value in the 2025-2029 cycle has risen to about 4% over the previous cycle, its international rights value has risen by a whopping 27% in the same period, taking the overall rise to 17%. The chart shows the increasing share of international rights in the total media rights value
To put things in context, in the United States, NBC signed a £2bn agreement in late 2021 to exclusively show the Premier League over six years, that’s roughly €450mn per year. Now, back to present times
- With Friedkin Group poised to complete Everton’s takeover, 11 of the present Premier League teams will be partially or completely owned by US-based investors
- NBC makes record viewership starts in 2024/25 season
- Classic Football Shirts are about to open their second store in the USA and plan more expansion as Premier League fans across America are fueling their growth
Given the above pointers, we can only expect the media rights deal value to keep increasing in future
Similar value growth story can be seen in Asia. On example is, Jasmine International (Jas), the Thai telecommunications giant secured Premier League’s media rights at a value of $233mn up almost 78% from the existing $131mn, for at least the next three seasons and so on. Premier League’s international popularity is massive
The State of Other ‘Big Five’ Leagues
With Premier League broadcast rights value growing and LaLiga stable at least till 2026/27 season, focus shifts on other three of the ‘big five’ leagues. German Bundesliga has managed to secure a 2% increase with new €4.48bn domestic broadcast deals. The current rights deal worth €1.1bn per year is set to increase to €1.12bn per year from 2025/26 till 2028/29 season. This will certainly be a relief for the DFL as the market conditions continue to be challenging, the effect of which has been felt by Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1, both. The Serie A clubs will earn approximately €900mn per year in domestic rights, that’s 3% less than the previous one.
The situation with French Professional Football League (LFP) is even trickier. It’s €500mn domestic deal with DAZN and BeIN Sports is substantially lesser than the targeted €1bn in domestic apart from an additional €200mn from overseas rights. As things stand out, both French Ligue 1 and Italian Serie A have opted to go the direct-to-consumer (DTC) route in the big UK and Ireland market after struggling to secure traditional broadcast coverage in the market. While it can be a blessing in disguise and maybe even open doors for other leagues to explore DTC options in future, only time will tell how this shapes up
The Widening Gap
Premier League’s growing international media market domination in the two consecutive rights cycle further increases the gap in overall value with rest of the ‘big five’ leagues. The gap with the nearest league, Laliga, has increased by about 35% from the 2025-26 cycle. This subsequently leads to greater financial power of Premier League teams over others in terms of player acquisitions and infrastructure development
Conclusion
While the media right sales dust for all of the five leagues has more or less settled for the near future, at least three years, it gives the leagues some time to rethink their growth strategy if they plan to narrow the gap with Premier League.
Strategic international marketing plans coupled with relationship development with broadcasters is probably the first steps needed. Looking forward to see a revamped league growth strategy
