Things That Serie A Can Do To Increase Their Broadcasting Rights Revenue Worldwide

In a year where very few fans, if any, can attend sporting events worldwide due to the pandemic, broadcasting rights revenue will become more important and could mark a shift in how sports leagues make revenue. As a result of all this, I’ve decided to write an article on things that Serie A can do to improve their broadcasting rights revenue worldwide. So, here we go!

How Does Serie A’s Broadcasting Rights Revenue Compare to Other Leagues Worldwide?

When I was researching Serie A’s Broadcasting Rights Revenue over the 2019-2020 season compared to other sports leagues worldwide, I couldn’t find stats for that particular season. However, I did find Serie A’s 2019 broadcasting rights revenue compared to other sports leagues. According to statista, in 2019, Serie A earned US$ 1.51 billion, in broadcasting rights revenue worldwide. That was the seventh-highest compared to sports leagues worldwide and the fourth-highest compared to soccer leagues worldwide. The EPL, La Liga and the Bundesliga were the soccer leagues that surpassed Serie A’s broadcasting rights revenue in 2019. Now, stats are great and all. But, how can Serie A increase its broadcasting rights revenue? Here are things I believe Serie A can do to increase their broadcasting rights revenue!

1. Try to Make More Deals with Streaming Platforms

I would not say that broadcasting via tv is dying, by any means. However, for several years, there have been additional paid ways for fans to watch sports games in addition to traditional tv and radio. If Serie A wants to earn more broadcasting rights revenue they should look to reward more streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, and others the rights to broadcast their matches. Of course, that would be in addition to tv channels acquiring the rights to broadcast league fixtures, as the more mediums used to show live Serie A matches, the better. According to Football Italia, Serie A’s CEO, Luigi De Siervo, in September of 2020, said that Amazon and Netflix are interested in broadcasting Serie A matches on their platforms. If there are more recent developments on these streaming platforms acquiring rights to broadcast Serie A, be sure to let me know. Anyway, I hope Serie A utilizes more streaming platforms to further increase their broadcasting rights revenue in the future.

2. Promote the League’s Matches/Events in More Languages

This idea is not something that would solely help increase Serie A’s broadcasting rights revenue but would help increase revenue in various aspects for the league. I’ve been pushing for Serie A to promote the league further around the world in previous blog posts. Allowing Serie A broadcasts to be in various languages as well as promoting what happens within the league in different languages via social media more often, would be beneficial. A great example to follow for every Serie A club and even the league itself would be Roma’s Twitter accounts. Roma has Twitter accounts in English, Italian, Arabic, Indonesian, Spanish, Portuguese, Persian, Pidgin and Swahili. It would be beneficial to follow Roma’s lead, as it would attract more viewers to Serie A broadcasts around the world, which would probably incentivize more media companies/streaming platforms to buy the rights to show matches. Here are just some of the tweets from Roma’s English Twitter Account as an example:

Tweets by ASRomaEN

3. Market Star Players in Better Ways Around the World

Say all you want about the quality of Serie A as a league. But, there’s no doubt there’s some top-class players in the league. Not just Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Matthijs De Ligt. Serie A should also be promoting other stars in the league as well. I feel as though promoting other starts in the league as well as the elite ones will allow the league to grow traction around the world, which will lead to more fans and more incentive for tv channels/streaming to broadcast the league, as they’ll get more viewers, which may lead to more ad revenue for broadcasters. This may sound tough as if it’d require more spending on marketing to execute this, but it’d be with it, in my view.

Let me know things that you think Serie A should do to increase their broadcasting rights revenue in the comments below. If you’d like to be featured in one of my articles or write any articles for this blog, be sure to reach out to me.

If you’d like to reach out to me further, my Twitter handle is @calciofanblogs1, my Instagram account is @calciofanblogs, and my Facebook Page is Calcio Fan Blogs. Additionally, if you’d like to reach out to me via email, my email address is calciofanblogs@gmail.com and/or connect with me on LinkedIn!

Comparing Atalanta and Roma’s Market Values from February 15, 2018 to now.

Coming into this weekend’s match, both Atalanta and Roma are battling for the last Champions League spot for next season. For each of these clubs, this could be the most important match. It should be a good one. So here’s an article each club’s respective market value from February 15th, 2018 to February 15th, 2020. The market value is in US Dollars, so keep that in mind when you read this article.

Atalanta’s Market Value

As a result of last season, Atalanta is in the Champions League for the first time in their history. That remarkable feat is definitely reflected in their market value. According to transfermarkt.us, on February 15, 2018, Atalanta’s club market value was $167.59 million . At that time, Atalanta was Serie A’s 8th most valuable club. Now, if you fast-forward a year later, their market value increased to $188.93 Million. However, as a result of them being in the Champions League this season, and possibly other factors, their market value is currently $328.79 million. Which, is a massive jump in value. From February 15, 2018, to February 18, 2020, Atalanta’s market value increased by 96.2 %, which is remarkable. Looks like things are looking up on and off the pitch for this club.

Roma’s Market Value

Since 2018, Roma has qualified for the Champions League Semifinals as well as being in the competition every season other than this one since then. So, here is their market value from 2018-2020. On February 15th of 2018, their value was $378.84 million. That was a couple of months before they made it pretty far in the Champions League, of course. Their market value was forth-highest in Serie A at the time. Exactly, a year later in 2019, their market value was $438.24 million. However, they went down a place and we’re the fifth most valuable club in Serie A. Then, today their market value is $484.33 million. As a result, from February of 2018 to February of 2020, their market value increased by 27.8%. It’s obvious that since 2018, they’ve been doing well off the field. However, in the field, it hasn’t been that great.

As you can see, off the field Atalanta and Roma’s market values have increased since 2018. But, we’ll see how they do on the pitch when they face each other today.

Ways Serie A Clubs Can Increase Their Attendance at Stadiums

Serie A is a very attractive league to watch. However, in regards to attendance numbers at stadiums, it’s still behind other top football leagues such as the EPL (England Premier League) and the Bundesliga. So, I decided that it’d be a good idea to compare the EPL’s average attendance numbers to Serie A’s numbers. Also, I want to write about ways Serie A clubs can increase their attendance at stadiums. So, let’s get it done!

 

EPL’s AVERAGE STADIUM CAPACITY AND ATTENDANCE NUMBERS THIS SEASON

To start off, I got each individual club’s stats from https://www.soccerstats.com in order to write this article. Then, added the numbers from each club. After that, once I got the total numbers from each league, I divided it up by the number of clubs that are in each league. That’s how I was able to get the average attendance, stadium capacity, and the average percentage of seats being filled from both leagues. From my calculations, so far this season, the average number of fans that are attending EPL matches this season is approximately 39,295. The average capacity of English Premier League stadiums close to 40, 546 people. Finally, the average percentage of each stadium in England’s top-flight that has been filled this season is 96.6%.

SERIE A’s AVERAGE STADIUM CAPACITY AND ATTENDANCE NUMBERS THIS SEASON

To calculate Serie A’s average attendance and stadium capacity numbers, I used the same method as I did above. Serie A’s average numbers in these categories are lower, which means they need to improve. So, here are the numbers. Based on what I calculated from the https://www.soccerstats.com website, Serie A’s average stadium capacity is approximately 39, 331 people. Also, Serie A’s average attendance so far this season is about 26, 641 attendees. To cap off Serie A’s average attendance and capacity numbers, approximately, 71.7% of the league’s stadium capacities have been filled.

SO HOW CAN SERIE A CLUBS INCREASE THEIR ATTENDANCE NUMBERS?

 

1. BUILD NEWER STADIUMS/RENOVATE OLDER ONES

This solution is a very difficult one to implement, as it would have to go through a lot of political barriers as well as major planning. Also, some club owners would be hesitant just because there are a lot of costs associated with this. Permits, building costs, and more would be part of those costs. However, in the long-term, I believe that it would attract more fans to attend Serie A stadiums each week. Personally, if I were to go to any Serie A stadium, it’d be a dream. However, some fans would love to go to stadiums that are newer and aren’t crumbling apart. One of the big factors as to why Stadiums in the EPL have a high number of fans attending their matches each week is because of a lot of stadiums being newly built or renovated.

2. ELIMINATE THREATS OF VIOLENT AND DISCRIMINATORY BEHAVIOUR WITHIN THE STADIUMS

Unfortunately, sometimes Serie A gets a bad reputation because of some people within the stadium who look to cause physical violence as well as displaying discriminatory behaviour towards fans as well as players. Serie A needs to crackdown on people who display this type of behaviour in the stadium because first of all, it’s wrong and shouldn’t be tolerated at all. We are all human beings who shouldn’t be threatened by violence or discriminated against in any shape or form. Second of all, if fans feel that they’re in danger by going to a stadium and watching their team play, it’ll result in them not wanting to go. Therefore, Serie A needs to crack down on these types of actions within stadiums.

References:

https://www.soccerstats.com/attendance.asp?league=italy

https://www.soccerstats.com/attendance.asp?league=england

3 Ways the Serie A and Clubs Within it Can Produce More Revenue

Serie A is a great league. One of those reasons is because of the passion of its fans as well as the beautiful football that is played. However, from a business standpoint, clubs within the league as well as the league itself, need to find a way in which to make more revenue, as it is seemingly clear that they’re falling behind a few of the other leagues in this regard. So, here are three ways in which the Serie A as well as clubs within it can make more revenue.

           1. Promote the League in Different Countries Around the World 

Over recent summers, it seems as though the Serie A is beginning to promote their clubs around the world in Countries such as the United States, China, India, Qatar and a couple others. However, if Serie A and the clubs within it want to promote the league in more countries, they need to do it in ones that they either haven’t hosted preseason matches in or where they haven’t had matches  in a while. I’ve previously written a blog post on three countries where I think Serie A clubs  should have  preseason matches. I do believe that promoting Italian soccer within these countries will assist the Serie A in making more revenue. For example, if there were Serie A preseason matches in Argentina, it could lead to new fans of the league within the country. Also, it could become so popular to watch, that it would lead to more deals within Argentina  between the Serie A and cable TV stations in the country. This would bring in more revenue for the league and each club within the league would get a share of the money. This would also allow clubs within the league to spend more on buying players as well as training facilities, marketing, etc.

2. Renovate Existing Stadiums/Building New Ones 

According to football-italia.net, there has been recent changes to Italian laws. So, more investment via private entities is allowed to go into stadiums. This is huge! This could be massive because now clubs in Italy will make more revenue for themselves when building/renovating stadiums. The reason for this is because owners of clubs in Italy will be allowed to invest more in building stadiums, therefore, there would be more money going in their pockets, leading to more revenue being earned for the club. Also, having a new/recently updated stadiums could possibly increase Serie A’s average attendance. According to statista.com, the average attendance at Serie A stadiums last season was 25, 237 people. Which, was the fourth highest average attendance per game among all soccer league in the worlds. Unfortunately, the Bundesliga, the Premier League, and La Liga beat the Italian league in this regard. However, newer stadiums may convince more fans to attend matches, which would bring in additional revenue to Serie A clubs.

     3. Attract More Big Name Players to the League 

I understand that a lot of big name stars are not affordable  for most clubs within Serie A. However, once there is more money from television deals and newer stadiums, more clubs within the league will be able to afford more well-known stars. I’m not saying Serie A clubs need to attempt to buy someone like Mbappe, but there’s other stars that could be attracted to the league that are more affordable. For example, someone such as James Rodriguez, who was almost bought by Napoli last summer, is affordable for many clubs within the league. There’s a good chance he wouldn’t cost 100 million Euros in the transfer market, so, if certain clubs are willing to pay significantly less, he could boost the revenue for the club that buys him as well as possibly elevate the team to new heights. Look, I’m not saying he’s at Messi or Ronaldo’s level, but he’s an affordable soccer star that would bring in revenue for many Serie A clubs. Just his name on a club’s merchandise alone, would be beneficial for their balance sheet.

Thanks for reading this blogpost! This was my first crack at the business side of things relevant to Serie A. Feedback would be much appreciated! Also, be sure to follow me on Instagram @calciofanblogs and on Twitter @calciofanblogs1. Be sure to like and follow my page on Facebook called Calcio Fan Blogs, as well to connect with my LinkedIn, which is Joseph Porco.