Lega Serie A begins private negotiations, after it rejects bid for domestic rights

Italy’s Lega Serie A has revealed it has rejected offers for its domestic rights from 2024-25 onwards from three broadcasters and will begin private negotiations.

During a meeting on Friday (June 16) the Assembly of Lega Serie A, made an unanimous decision to not accept any of the offers from the three broadcasters and to move forward with the phase of private negotiations, which will be held on 26 June.

In a official statement Lega Serie A said should these private negotiations fail, the Lega Serie A will proceed, at the Shareholders’ Meeting on 27 June, to the opening of the bids it received from six parties for the marketing and distribution of the channel.

DTVE reported earlier in May Lega Serie A was reportedly mulling a bid to acquire all or part of the pay TV operator Sky Italia.

First reported by La Stampa, the bid was proposed by Serie A boss Luigi de Siervo at a meeting of Serie A clubs today, with the aim of building a Serie A TV platform tapping the infrastructure, organisation and customer base of the operator.

According to the reports, a bid could be for the acquisition of Sky’s sports division only, or for all of Sky in partnership with a third party, with a number of banks expressing interest in participating, including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Barclays.

During the shareholders’ meeting, the board also unanimously approved the invitation to bid for the domestic rights of the Italian Cup and the Italian Super Cup.