The Swiss Football League hopes for a windfall thanks to TV rights

There has been a megatrend in football for years: more and more money is flowing in - and the increasingly expensive, lucrative TV rights are responsible. At the Sports Forum in Lucerne, Deloitte presented the Switzerland at the weekend impressive figures: Europe's football turned over no less than 30 billion euros in the 2017/2018 season. This represents an increase of almost 7 percent compared to the previous year. The problem from a Swiss perspective is that the money is distributed very lopsidedly. Half flows into the top 5 leagues, i.e. England, Germany, Spain and France. Of this half, half again ends up with the 20 clubs with the highest revenues in Europe. This group is led by Real Madrid and Manchester United.

The number one revenue driver is TV rights. These are becoming increasingly coveted. Pay TV providers are driving prices to astronomical heights in bidding wars. Even in times of replay TV and video-on-demand, live soccer is a guarantee for TV pictures that can be marketed profitably.

Switzerland receives only two percent

The European football association, UEFA, distributes 1.8 billion euros to the leagues every year. However, just two percent of this ends up in Switzerland, which accounts for a mere 17 percent of the Swiss Football League's (SFL) revenue. From an international perspective, the Swiss league is too uninteresting to receive more relevant sums from UEFA's large pot of money.

This makes the money generated domestically all the more important. The national TV rights are already expected to bring the SFL 35 million francs per season, but the league does not disclose or communicate the exact amount. The rights are awarded for four years at a time, with the current period ending at the end of 2020. Talks are already underway.

Bidding war to make cash registers ring

How the Switzerland at the weekend writes Claudius Schäfer, CEO of the Swiss Football League, hopes for a further significant increase in income from media rights. In the next four-year period, 50 million francs per year could soon flow into the SFL coffers. The reason is the increased competition among TV broadcasters. Pay-TV providers Teleclub and MySports are trying to wrestle the rights from each other. Streaming services are also getting in on the act, and Swiss TV is getting additional competition from CH Media stations, which have been increasingly confident about live sports for some time.

Free TV viewers lose out

The new flow of money may be a blessing for the soccer league and the clubs - but it also has disadvantages for viewers. The "free" live sport on free TV is coming under increasing pressure, SRF can and will no longer keep up with the stronger private competition in the auctioning of rights. Live soccer, in particular, is disappearing behind the paywall the longer it goes on in Switzerland.

In addition, broadcasters such as Teleclub are exerting more influence on the game, for example by wanting to influence the kick-off times. "We would like to see staggered games," said sports director Claudia Lässer in Lucerne, for example. Whereas league games used to take place at the same time, pay-TV broadcasters are now increasingly pushing for games to kick off at different times wherever possible. The more often live sports can be offered, the more often they can be sold to paying viewers.

Marketing rights are already exhausted

In contrast to TV rights, there is less room for improvement in marketing rights, according to Schäfer. The sponsorship budgets of the big companies are themselves under pressure. Here, at least the league's main sponsor Raiffeisen is sending a positive signal: The bank wants to extend its nine-year partnership for another four years.

On the subject: SRF wants to continue showing top European soccer in the future