AUCKLAND, New Zealand –
Broadcasters have been criticized by FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Saturday for what he referred to as unacceptably low affords for rights to display screen the Women’s World Cup subsequent yr.
Offers of simply 1% of the worth of males’s World Cup rights offers have been rejected, Infantino stated, for the tournament that begins in July in Australia and New Zealand.
The males’s World Cup has pushed FIFA’s anticipated general earnings towards US$7 billion for the four-year business cycle that ends in December after that tournament in Qatar.
“100 occasions much less, much more than 100 occasions in some events, then this isn’t acceptable,” the FIFA chief stated at a information convention forward of the finals tournament draw. “I do not wish to point out them, however those that are there, they understand it.”
The time zones in Australia and New Zealand imply many video games, particularly within the group stage, will probably be performed within the nighttime hours in profitable markets in Europe and the Americas.
“We usually are not going to simply accept this,” Infantino stated of the printed affords, “as a result of we all know that the viewing figures for these broadcasters in some massive footballing international locations for the lads’s World Cup or for the Women’s World Cup are literally very comparable … that means their business earnings could be very comparable for males and for girls.”
Infantino took an additional jibe at broadcasters who he stated pushed FIFA to deal with women’s soccer extra equally on points reminiscent of World Cup prize cash.
The 32 groups on the males’s World Cup in Qatar will share US$440 million in prize cash, whereas a prize fund of $60 million was proposed for the primary 32-team women’s version in 2023.
“In some international locations, they’re fairly good at telling us … that we should always give extra emphasis on equal alternatives, on equality, on non-discrimination, on treating women and men in the identical means which is, after all, what now we have to do, and we attempt to do this to the perfect of our capability,” Infantino stated.
“It’s essential that everybody places actions, as effectively, behind phrases and all of us begin to deal with women’s soccer the identical means.”
FIFA has modified the business model for the Women’s World Cup to earn its personal earnings as an alternative of merely being packaged as an add-on for broadcasters and sponsors doing offers for the lads’s tournament.
Infantino advised an additional push for equality for women’s soccer, noting that Olympic tournaments have 16 males’s groups and solely 12 for girls.
“Women ought to have 16 groups as effectively on the Olympic Games,” he stated. “These are some discussions we’re going to have.”
Adding 4 women’s groups would want greater than 70 athlete quota locations when the International Olympic Committee is asking some governing our bodies to make cuts to assist discover area for brand new sports activities and management organizers’ prices.