Bundesliga scraps plans to sell stake in overseas rights

The German Bundesliga has abandoned plans to sell a stake in its international broadcast rights.

The league had previously planned to sell a 25% stake in its overseas broadcasting rights, with shortlisted buyout funds including KKR, Bridgepoint and CVC. The sale had been expected to value the rights at a total of €2 billion.

However, the plan has been discontinued following a vote from the 36 professional clubs in Germany’s top two leagues. The vote did not pass the two-thirds majority on moving to the final phase, with clubs raising concerns about the involvement of private equity firms in the game.

The league suffered a significant decrease to its domestic rights value in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and at a time when advertising sales were significantly lower than at any point in recent history.

In a statement, the DFL said: “Having weighed up the facts, the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs decided not to continue the talks at the present time. Independent of this, there was an agreement that it is essential that clubs and the DFL work together on concepts for accelerating international marketing.”