October 7 – Italy’s Serie A has followed the lead of its Big 5 European league rivals LaLiga and Bundesliga, and opened an office in the US.
While Italian clubs have pushed their brands in international markets – most notably Juventus and Inter Milan – the league has been less pro-active in its international expansion but says it is focussed on improving its media opportunity in the US and expanding its profile.
Germany’s Bundelsliga recently announced an expansive long term deal based around ESPN’s streaming service ESPN+. Serie A is also on the ESPN+ platform this season but as part of single season deal only.
The US move is part of a restructuring of Serie A’s broadcast and commercial department under managing director Luigi De Siervo and marketing director Fabio Santoro. The league is still in discussion with Mediapro over a domestic rights deal that is expected to be concluded end of this week.
Serie A has added ex-Sky executive Maria Solbiati as head of media to bolster its in-house expertise.
“The US will be the theater of football in the coming years … We are looking for new audiences. We want to add value to the sporting event, making the virtual stadium, that is, the TV, as beautiful as the physical one. We are trying to intercept pieces of a large market,” said De Servio in a radio interview.
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