Soccer World Cup 2010 Rights Sold for $3.4 Billion, FIFA Says

By Tariq Panja

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Commercial rights to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa were sold for $3.4 billion, 30 percent more than the last tournament in Germany two years ago, world soccer’s governing body said.

The sale was completed last week with an agreement with Nigeria for the sale of the remaining television deal, FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke told delegates at the Soccerex conference in Johannesburg today.

Sponsorship, television and mobile telephone rights were included in the sale by the Zurich, Switzerland-based organization. Sponsors include Coca-Cola Co., McDonald’s Corp. and Visa Inc., he said. The rights for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will bring in $3.7 billion, he added. The 2010 tournament will be the first time the world’s most watched sports event is held on African soil.

“There was not a single time a commercial partner asked for a reduction,” said Valcke, who was formerly the organization’s marketing director.

The bulk of FIFA’s World Cup revenue is made from its global television rights sales. The organization will make more than $2 billion, said Niclas Ericson, who runs FIFA’s television and new media operations.

Television access will be free across Africa. In other countries it will be available through a mixture of free-to-air and pay-television broadcasters.

“Of course we would rather have it on free TV,” Ericson told reporters. “But it’s very hard to manage the revenue expectations for a single broadcaster.”