ITV made a stunning £0 bid to try and land the broadcast rights for the Club World Cup, it’s been claimed.
The rights for the revamped tournament – which was first contested in 2000 – were recently acquired by streaming powerhouse DAZN.
But The Telegraph claim that ITV tried to get their hands on them for absolutely zilch in an audacious bid.
The British broadcaster is said to have been confident of landing the rights due to its ability to reach a wide audience.
They were hoping to reach that wide audience by putting the games on its main terrestrial channels.
FIFA, however, weren’t sold on the idea and opted to accept DAZN’s lucrative offer.
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An ITV spokesperson said: “We would never comment on speculative contractual matters.”
DAZN ended up paying a whopping £800million ($1billion) to acquire the rights for the 32-team tournament.
ITV could, however, still end up broadcasting some Club World Cup games if DAZN sublicenses them the rights.
DAZN, however, are said to be “undecided” about doing so as they hope airing the games free of charge will get footie fans to subscribe to its service.
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The Club World Cup gets underway in mid-June and will culminate on July 13.
The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the home NFL teams the New York Jets and the New York Giants, will host the final.
The 2025 Club World Cup will be a showcase of some of the finest teams across the globe.
Chelsea and Manchester City will be the Premier League’s representatives, while Atletico and Real Madrid will represent LaLiga.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
