DAZN and Sky have secured Serie A’s broadcasting rights until 2028-29, but Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis complains: ‘Italian football will die.’
Lega Serie A approved bids from Sky and DAZN during a meeting on Monday, meaning the two broadcasters will continue to screen games of Italy’s top flight from 2024-25 until 2028-29.
The offers from Sky and DAZN are worth at least €4.5 billion combined and were approved by 17 clubs out of 20. Salernitana and Cagliari voted against the bids, while Napoli didn’t even vote.
The Partenopei President De Laurentiis seemed furious during a press conference after the meeting and, according to TMW, he interrupted Lega Serie A President Luigi De Siervo who was speaking to the media.
“It’s a loss for Italian football which will die with these offers,” said De Laurentiis.
“Sky and DAZN are not competent, they don’t do the good of Italian football. The value of our football must go through investments and fans are our absolute good.”
De Laurentiis backed a project to see Lega Serie A create their own channel to broadcast league games. Reports in Italy earlier this month claimed Oaktree Capital Partners had made an offer to support the project.
DAZN have offered €700m per season to broadcast all 10 Serie A games until 2029, while Sky added circa €200m more per season to screen three matches each weekend.
“When I see packages that include Champions League, Serie A, TV series and shows, I don’t understand the real value of Italian football,” continued ADL.
“DAZN sell Italian football alongside other sports. It was also stupid to make a five-year deal after reaching an agreement with Saudi Arabia, now that there is a war. Sky and DAZN are not making great investments. I was watching the Premier League the other day, Arsenal-Chelsea. Then I watched three Serie A matches. The shooting modes of our football are laughable, but these broadcasters have never told us. We keep talking about real stadiums, but we never think about virtual stadiums,” ADL concluded.