The Serie A global rights window is about to open to bidders on 16 December 2020, but the auction will exclude MENA rights. Italian football’s top flight league Serie A has issued the invitation to tender document for the league’s international broadcast rights from 2021-22 to 2023-24.The tender, which also includes rights to the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana, specifies that interested parties must lodge their bids by 10am (CET) on January 11. The tender covers broadcast rights for one “Global” package, four Continental packages (Europe, the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia-Oceania) and 52 country-specific packages. The notable exception in the list of territories is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and the 21 countries that make up the MENA region. The “Global” rights package offered by Serie A also excludes the MENA region. This has led to speculation that Serie A may be considering changing the structure of its 2021-22 rights offering for the region. beIN Sports is the exclusive MENA rights holder for Serie A 2020-21 season, and has retained exclusive rights to the Italian league for over 10 years since its acquisition of the ART Sports rights portfolio in 2009.
