The new UPL season, which is planned to be held in wartime conditions, has not yet started, and clubs, league management and TV channels are already breaking spears over the rights to broadcast and their value.
Before talking about the nuances of TV channels showing matches of the championship of Ukraine before the full-scale war, we should note that UPL clubs, without a doubt, are currently torn between the desire to receive at least some money from broadcasts and the need to attract the largest possible audience to watch Ukrainian football. The UPL needs promotion after a nine-month layoff, and there will be no better advertising than broadcasting matches, especially quality broadcasting. But...
During the war, and after the disappearance of the "Football" television channels, new strict conditions for showing football arose. For comparison and a better understanding of the situation, let's recall some episodes from the organization of UPL broadcasts from the recent past.
Six years ago...
At the beginning of 2016, UPL clubs received a joint proposal for the sale of television rights from the two main TV broadcasters of Ukraine - TV channels "1+1" and "Ukraine"). At that time, it was about the amount of UAH 102 million (about EUR 3.6 million) for the 2016-2017 season, with a gradual increase in the next three seasons. At the time, it was noted that, objectively, it was a small amount. The elite football leagues of neighboring European states received much more, with Romania at €27.3 million and Poland at €35.7 million.
In 2016, after a vote, 10 Ukrainian elite clubs transferred their commercial rights to international broadcasts to UPL, and seven agreed to the transfer of Ukrainian rights. But for all the agreements and compromises, only 30% of the matches of the Ukrainian championship were shown in the 2016-2017 season. In addition, at that time it was recorded that in the leading football countries the share of the clubs' income from the sale of TV rights was in the range of 30-40%. In Ukraine, even in Shakhtar's best times, for example, it was only 8%.
It should be noted that UPL clubs were dissatisfied with the amount of UAH 102 million on the eve of the 2016-2017 season. There were various comments, from "we are not excited" to "we want to get at the level of clubs in England and Germany".
A treat for "Metalist"
By the way, during the 2015-2016 season, elite Ukrainian clubs received UAH 280 million from broadcasters. However, broadcasters could not return this amount due to advertising, but the clubs were in profit. In that period, "Metalist" received a lot of money from broadcasts - 62 million hryvnias, while the average profit of other clubs was 17 million hryvnias per season. But a year later, the situation changed and UPL clubs received an offer of 102 million hryvnias, although according to market calculations of financial experts, the package of UPL TV rights should have cost a billion hryvnias. Then, of course, no one gave such money...
By the way, according to the old scheme, the then champion of Ukraine received 16 million hryvnias, and the team that took the last place received about three million hryvnias... It should be noted that the highest income of the UPL leaders for broadcasting two years later was in 2018, not reached even the amount received for showing matches by Romanian clubs with an average profit of 1.8 million euros.
There was also...
In 2019, the "Football" TV channels were ready to pay UAH 16.5 million for the three-year rights to all UPL matches for three seasons. However, at that time, the elite football clubs of Ukraine did not agree on the creation of a single television pool for the 2019-2020 season. Four clubs - "Dynamo", "Zorya", "Desna" and "Dnipro-1" opposed the creation of a single TV pool. Subsequently, these clubs signed long-term contracts with the 1+1 media group. And most of the rights went to "Football" TV channels.
At the beginning of 2021, Megogo officially confirmed that it had won the tender to broadcast the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League of the 2021-2024 seasons and had acquired the rights to show these matches in Ukraine on all platforms, including television.
The realities of 2022
In the summer of 2022, during the tender for a full package of media rights to broadcast matches of the new championship of Ukraine, most UPL clubs supported Setanta Sports' proposal. 11 elite clubs indicated their willingness to conclude an agreement with Setanta Sports, Chornomorets abstained, while Dynamo, Rukh, Zorya and Dnipro-1 were actually against it.
In addition to Setanta Sports, media resource Megogo also took part in the tender for a full package of TV rights, but its offer did not interest the participants in the process. The full rights package includes the exclusive broadcast of all UPL matches on all platforms. At the same time, one match of the tour must be publicly available. After a certain period, league matches should be available on Youtube.
It is known that Setanta wants to sign a contract for three years and gives for the first season $ 3.2 million. Half of this amount will go to the production of broadcasts, the other half will be divided between the clubs.
What is a hundred thousand?..
However, it should be understood that 100 thousand dollars per season per club does not solve almost anything for "Dynamo" and "Shakhtar", and not only... By the way, "Rukh" offered to transfer the TV rights for free to public TV channels, but "Dynamo" did not only supported this proposal, and also put forward the idea to revise the formula for the distribution of funds between clubs, depending on the occupied seats.
Rightly? The assessment should be given by Ukrainian fans... But a simple life formula is already clear - when there is a war in the country, rules and laws apply to all markets, including the television market, which no one could even think about in peacetime. So, cheers and encouragement to UPL clubs, TV channels, and, of course, fans, for whom Ukrainian football should become a breath of fresh air.
Oleg SEMENCHENKO
