Serie A eight stand their ground
Thursday, September 5, 2002
Article summary
Serie A's start is again in doubt after the eight clubs without a pay-TV deal refused a €53m offer.
Article body
Italy's top-flight clubs may have agreed a new three-year deal with state television company RAI, but the problem of striking a deal for pay-per-view matches remains unresolved.
Offer refused
The eight clubs without a pay-TV deal for the new season today refused the €53m offer of the satellite channels and may refuse to play on 14 September, the rescheduled start date for the new Serie A season.
Consortium of clubs
Atalanta BC, Brescia Calcio, AC Chievo Verona, Como Calcio, Empoli FC, Modena FC, AC Perugia and Piacenza FC formed a consortium, Plus Media Trading (PMT), to negotiate a better deal. Bigger clubs in Italy such as Juventus FC and Milan AC have signed individual contracts with the satellite channels worth as much as €54m.
RAI deal agreed
Yesterday RAI agreed to pay the 20 Serie A clubs €62m a year for highlights of league games and live Italian Cup matches. This represented a 27 per cent drop on last season's fees, but the clubs could earn an additional €13m a year depending on audience figures.
'No change of opinion'
"There are no elements that can convince us to change our opinion," said Como's president, Enrico Preziosi "The agreement between the Lega Calcio and Rai is negative for us because before we had four matches for pay-per-view channels, we now have just for three. At the moment we cannot give a positive answer." His words were echoed by the Brescia president, Gino Corioni, who said: "I think that only nine teams will play on 14 September."
Galliani warning
The Lega Calcio president, Adriano Galliani warned two days ago, however, he was not ready to accept further delays to the start of the season. "We will penalise every club that won't play on 14 September," said Galliani, also Milan's general manager.
Government help
The eight clubs, who had been asking for around €80m for the pay-TV deal, are hoping now for the intervention of the Italian government. Tomorrow they will meet Gianni Letta, the secretary of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, to discuss the matter.
