The General Assembly of the Portuguese Professional Football League approved, this Friday, the model of centralized commercialization of audiovisual rights for professional competitions, with more than 90% of votes in favor among the 33 sports societies present. Benfica was the only club to vote against the proposal presented by Liga Portugal, while Nacional chose to abstain.
The decision represents a relevant step in the process of centralizing the sale of professional football television rights in Portugal, which until now was done individually by each club in relation to the games played at their stadium. With this new framework, It is now envisaged that the rights will be sold jointly in different packages, similar to what already happens in most of the main European leagues.
According to the approved proposal, around 90% of revenues resulting from the sale of audiovisual rights must be allocated to I Liga clubs, although the concrete definition of the distribution key has not yet been completed. This will be the next stage of the process and should generate demanding negotiations between sports societies, as it will determine the amount to be allocated to each emblem.
Liga Portugal estimates that centralization could make it possible to reach global values of around 225 million euros per seasonadmitting the possibility of growth if there is additional exploitation of rights, namely through international platforms or new transmission formats.
Despite the approval of the model by the clubs, the process still depends on government validation and the opinion of the competent regulatory entitiesin compliance with the legal framework approved in 2021, which establishes the mandatory centralized commercialization of professional football television rights from the 2028/29 season onwards.
The approval now achieved formalizes another phase of a structural process for Portuguese football, which aims to bring the national model closer to the main European leagues and reinforce the financial sustainability of professional competitions. However, the definition of revenue sharing criteria should be the most sensitive and decisive moment for consensus between clubs.
Leave a Reply