The consortium of Dutch telecom companies that lost out in their bid to secure broadcast rights to the Eredivisie have taken their case to the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).
According to the consortium (Delta Fiber, KPN, Odido, and VodafoneZiggo), the exclusive negotiations and an impending deal between Eredivisie CV and Disney/ESPN for the television rights of Eredivisie are in violation of antitrust laws. They say the Eredivisie clubs are only allowed to offer the rights if there is a fair and transparent bidding process in compliance with Dutch and European legislation.
The ACM is being asked to consider whether by allocating the rights to the Disney-owned sports channel a breach of antitrust laws.
In September it was announced that ESPN had secured the rights until 2030 in a €750 million deal.
The consortium said it deeply regretted that Eredivisie CV had refused to engage seriously with its initial offer. “We can only speculate about the underlying reason for this refusal. Therefore, we feel compelled to turn to the ACM. We would prefer to sit down with ECV and the clubs, but so far, no chair has been offered to us. We assume that, pending the enforcement request to the ACM, the clubs will not make any final decisions regarding the direct allocation to Disney,” said a spokesperson for the consortium.
In 2004 the ACM stated that the sale of football rights should take place through a “transparent and non-discriminatory bidding and awarding procedure.”
The new agreement with ESPN is almost double that of the 10 year deal signed in 2013 when the then Fox Sports agreed to pay €80 million a season.
Disney will act as guarantor for the whole value of the contract and will also write off a loan taken out by Eredivisie CV to cover Fox Sports’ start-up losses.
