FIFA Threatens Broadcast Blackout of Women’s World Cup in Europe

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is threatening to blacklist the Women’s World Cup in major European markets over broadcasters’ offers, which are considered too low to screen the event. Infantino had publicly criticized broadcasters last October for paying a meager 1% of the equivalent TV rights price paid for the men’s World Cup. FIFA has a standby broadcasting option with its online streaming platform FIFA+. England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain have all qualified for the first Women’s World Cup to have 32 teams. Europe is FIFA’s most lucrative broadcast market, with $1.06 billion in TV revenue, mostly tied to the men’s World Cup in Qatar.

Infantino expressed his moral and legal obligation not to undersell the FIFA Women’s World Cup, saying that if the offers continue to be unfair towards women and women’s football, they will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup into the ‘Big 5’ European countries. He suggested that public broadcasters have a duty to promote and invest in women’s sports. The Women’s World Cup has standalone broadcast and sponsor deals rather than being bundled with the men’s tournament.

Infantino’s repeated criticism of European public service broadcasters has included the BBC, which regularly broadcasts domestic women’s games live. The Women’s World Cup is not in an ideal time zone for European broadcasters, with daytime games in Australia and New Zealand playing in the early hours of the morning in Europe. However, Infantino noted that European kick-off times of 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. “is quite a reasonable time” for viewers.

Re-reported from the story originally published in https://www.usatoday.com/