“Match TV” retained control of the ball – Newspaper Kommersant No. 149 (7350) dated 08/17/2022

Fonbet became the new title and betting partner of the Russian Football Cup. This was announced by the Russian Football Union (RFU), under whose auspices the Cup of Russia is held. An agreement was also reached that Match TV will broadcast the games of the updated Russian Cup. The new agreement should bring the RFU more than 2 billion rubles. But, apparently, the parties are cautious about the deal. After all, the contract was signed in an unusual format – for a year with the possibility of prolongation for another three. Moreover, the decision of the bureau of the executive committee of the RFU runs counter to the opinion of the majority of the clubs of the Russian Premier League (RPL) – ten of the sixteen league teams supported the alternative proposed by Yandex.

Russian Football Union approved Fonbet betting company as the title and betting partner of the Russian Cup. The contract with the former title partner of the tournament – the company “Betsiti” – will be terminated (this option is in the contract). The RFU also announced that all matches of the tournament will be broadcast on the channels of the Match TV holding. “According to the decision of the Bureau of the Executive Committee of the RFU, the Fonbet company became the new title partner of the Cup of Russia, the broadcasts of the games will be shown on the resources of the Match TV holding. These agreements are beneficial for all parties: our new partners, participating clubs, and, of course, for football fans,” said Maxim Mitrofanov, Acting Secretary General of the RFU.

The parties, apparently, are very cautious about the prospects for cooperation. Probably, this explains the unusual format of the contract. It will be concluded for only a year, but with the possibility of prolongation for three seasons at once. The financial parameters of the deal have not been officially made public, but, as Kommersant’s sources previously reported (see “Kommersant” dated August 11), we are talking about 2 billion rubles. for the season. The contract, according to Alexander Alaev, who was elected president of the RPL on Tuesday, includes a large marketing budget for the promotion of the tournament, exceeding 1 billion rubles. He did not explain whether these funds are included in the amount promised by the RFU, or will be spent in excess of the contract.

Meanwhile, the offer from Fonbet and Match TV was not the only one. Even last week, it seemed that the bid of Yandex, which was going to show the games of the Russian Cup on the Kinopoisk platform, and the betting company BetBoom, which claimed the status of title and betting partner, had preferable chances. The fact that the RPL clubs prefer this option was reported by Mr. Alaev. At the same time, according to him, it was assumed that the matches of the tournament would be divided between the services of Yandex and Match TV.

“The main selection factors were the desire of the clubs for changes, new broadcasting sites and the conquest of a new audience,” said Alexander Alaev.

As Kommersant’s source noted, the financial parameters of the transaction proposed by Yandex did not differ much from the Match TV option. Moreover, the “basic”, guaranteed part of the payments included in the option with Yandex was even somewhat more modest, and the “ceiling” could only be achieved by “providing certain indicators for the demand for the tournament among the audience.” However, it still seemed more interesting to many club leaders, because “it represented a change in the template and work for the future.” “In the end, we are obliged to attract the Internet audience, which often does not coincide with the television one,” the Kommersant’s interlocutor noted.

The RFU, namely, he owns the rights to host the Cup of Russia, decided to stop at the option with Match TV. The union expressed the hope that Yandex could still become an additional digital partner of the tournament. The decision of the RFU seems to have displeased a number of Premier League clubs. So, the director for strategic development of Torpedo, Ilya Gerkus, said in his Telegram channelthat he would not rejoice in the victory in the place of “colleagues from Match TV”. “I would not celebrate the acquisition (for free?) of the rights to the Cup of Russia. Still, ten out of sixteen RPL clubs (including Torpedo) voted for Yandex, and not for them. The members of the bureau of the executive committee decided differently, “Match” managed to convince them (it would be interesting, of course, how – to listen to the arguments that Yandex is weaker and less strategically interesting than GPM (“Match TV” is part of the “Gazprom-Media” structure.— “b”), but the contract is for the season, that is, during the season, Match will have to prove that they were not chosen in vain,” said Mr. Gerkus.

In turn, Vasily Konov, Deputy General Producer of Match TV, in his Telegram channel stated that he did not understand “why the votes of 10 participants out of 103 should be decisive”. “This is not the RPL Cup, this is the Russian Cup, and in addition to the RPL, there is someone to make decisions there, which is why the decision is in the RFU, and not in the league. And we didn’t get anything for free. And we pay for the rights, and the production plus is on our side,” said Mr. Konov.

In fact, there is nothing unexpected in the fact that the RFU gave preference to the application, the key person involved in which is Match TV.

The influence of the channel’s opinion on the holding of football competitions in Russia can be judged by the history of the never-implemented RPL Cup project.

He considered as a way to close the voids that have arisen in the calendar due to international sanctions, depriving, in particular, the domestic clubs of European competitions. The developers of the RPL Cup concept argued that it would give participants the opportunity to earn through various contracts that complement those associated with the championship: for media rights, with a betting partner and title sponsor. The potential income of clubs from participating in the new competition was estimated at billions of rubles.

However, to close the project enough one open letter from Match TV, which is invariably the broadcaster of RPL games and the Russian Cup. It stated that the creation of a new tournament “will have a negative impact on the media attractiveness of the Russian Championship and the Russian Cup, which will entail corresponding consequences for all parties involved.” It was also reported that the “launch of an alternative RPL product” would lead to a violation of the “principles of partnership”. Match TV “reserved the right to take legal measures regarding the revision or termination of the license agreement with the RPL.”

We add that it is Match TV that is actually the main commercial partner of the RPL. In October 2021, the TV channel rolled over a four-year agreement to purchase rights to broadcast league matches, roughly quadrupling the amount of the agreement. The new contract provides that in the first two years the RPL will receive 6.6 billion rubles each, in the next two years – 7.7 billion rubles each.

As a result, it was decided to reorganize the Russian Cup instead of the RPL Cup. The new draw started already on Tuesday and will be held according to the Double elimination system (departure from the tournament after two defeats). The updated Russian Cup will consist of two stages: the first will be held from August to December 2022 and will consist of the “RPL path” and the “regions path”. The second stage (play-off) will start in February 2023. The final is scheduled for June 11th.

Alexander Petrov