Week in Sportbiz: Amazon and private equity target Serie A; Arsenal pick Garlick; sponsors keep faith; and boosts for electric racing
Amazon’s foray into broadcasting Premier League matches could be a taste of things to come in Italy.
The retail behemoth has held talks about buying the domestic rights to show Serie A on its Prime Video platform, according to multiple reports.
Amazon has already secured a foothold in the Italian market, snapping up some Champions League matches from next season.
Adding Serie A, too, would only heighten speculation that it might bid for a bigger chunk of Premier League action.
Serie A’s domestic rights are currently split between Sky Sport and streaming platform DAZN.
Under its current deal, Amazon shows 20 games per season from England’s top flight.
We should find out whether its appetite has grown later this year, when the Premier League is expected to conclude sales for the 2022-25 cycle.
BC ready to swoop on Inter Milan
Private equity continues to feast on pandemic-squeezed sporting institutions, with Inter Milan its latest target.
BC Partners is in negotiations with Inter’s majority owner, the Chinese conglomerate Suning, over a stake in the club.
Suning is said to be ready to sell up to 40 per cent of Inter in a deal that would value it at €1.2bn. BC Partners is open to a minority or majority stake, say reports.
A consortium of private equity firms is set to buy 10 per cent of the company handling Serie A’s media rights.
Germany’s Bundesliga is courting a similar deal, while Manchester City investors Silver Lake are eyeing the All Blacks.
Arsenal plant Garlick at Emirates
Arsenal have lured Premier League director of football Richard Garlick to fill a similar role at Emirates Stadium.
Garlick will join later this year on a wide-ranging brief that includes the first team, academy, contracts and relationships with governing bodies.
The former West Brom director of football and qualified solicitor will hope to last longer than some recent Arsenal hires.
Contracts specialist Huss Fahmy’s departure last year followed that of football operations chief Raul Sanllehi and, in 2019, recruitment guru Sven Mislintat and fitness coach Darren Burgess.
The exodus removed all key personnel hired by former chief executive Ivan Gazidis to ease life after Arsene Wenger.
Sponsors show faith with big new deals
Growing concerns about the viability of this year’s sporting calendar have not stopped a raft of new sponsorship deals.
This week alone saw insurer LV= partner with the England and Wales Cricket Board and Vitality team up with England and GB Hockey.
Despite rugby’s programme being particularly badly hit, Land Rover has renewed its commitment to the Premiership.
Es give lift to motor racing
Formula 1 may be facing disruption but Formula E and its new spin-off, Extreme E, are having a better time.
F1 confirmed this week that the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix would be delayed for Covid-19 reasons.
But Formula E has announced that McLaren has bought an option to jointhe electric racing series.
Off-road series Extreme E, which is preparing its inaugural season, is to be aired on Sky Sports in the UK.