Potential problems of a winter World Cup
A Lot has been said about the potential problems of a shift from the usual summer dates to
the Winter months and they revolve around two central issues: the global football calendar
and broadcast deals.
A winter World Cup will see European league schedules decimated as the event will take
place DURING the usual football season and thus wreak untold havoc on the European
Club League calendar. UEFA, having the biggest and most lucrative leagues in the world
in its jurisdiction, will be most affected and this also goes for its UEFA Champions’ League
group stage matches which will have to be scrapped and rescheduled. There is also the
question of how much break the players will require before and after the event before
returning back to their regular club league activities. Primarily for Africa the continent will
only be affected mainly via its flagship football event, the AFCON (more on this later).
In terms of television deals, the spotlight will be firmly on UEFA and its member nations’
leagues. The English Premier League, only a few days ago, announced a new deal of
$7.9 billion for its 2016-2019 window and with the next TV deal cycle falling during the
2021-2022 season, the time the Qatar 2022 World Cup is slated for the Premier League’s
next round of negotiations will be deeply affected. Since 1992, the Premier League’s
television rights have dropped in value only once ( between 2004 and 2007) and it is safe
to say that given that the last two negotiation rounds which have seen a cumulative 140
percent rise in the value of the rights, the next rights purchase agreement will surpass the
current $7.9 billion. The other big three leagues in Europe also have big money television
deals (Bundesliga: $770 million per year, La Liga: $860 million, Serie A: $1.1 billion per
year) to work around in a bid to make a November- December 2022 World Cup work.
Surely, the powers that be who sign these cheques will not be pleased by FIFA’s
interference.