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FIFA Wants Private Money
C-suite kickoff // Image by Kait Cunniff with DALL-E
FIFA is considering creating a new commercial entity to raise more than $4 billion.
The Big Picture: FIFA seems bigger than ever thanks to the outsized success of the World Cup and the way it finally captured America's attention. Organization president Gianni Infantino doesn’t want the opportunity to turn the world’s biggest sport into its biggest moneymaker to go to waste — especially when nothing is more in demand than broadcast rights.
Behind The Push: FIFA wants to turn popularity into profit.
FIFA plans to create a holding company that will house the organization’s broadcast rights, sponsorship, ticketing, and licensing businesses across men’s, women’s, and youth soccer.
It’s already working with JPMorgan, Thrive Capital, and OpenEconomics to launch the venture.
The company is expected to be valued at around $20 billion and sell minority stakes to raise more than $4 billion in capital.
According to WSJ, the proceeds from the stake sale will “be distributed as funding for member organizations.”
Last Shot: FIFA is an international self-governing body founded in 1904 to oversee competitions between countries’ respective soccer associations. Profit isn’t really in its DNA… which is why UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, immediately blasted the proposal, saying, “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
While that may be the case, FIFA said it would “retain control of the venture and still have exclusive authority over competitions, match calendars, and all sporting decisions.” In other words, FIFA seems to believe it owns football.
Next Tournament: Infantino is up for re-election next year, and this plan may live or die based on whether he wins another term.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.