Almost every third Allsvenskan club is worried about reduced television revenues, shows a survey conducted by TV4-Sporten. The league’s agreement expires next year, but the media giants are in crisis and the risk of a price race is high.
– The prices for the Champions League are falling. Why would it be different for the Allsvenskan? I can’t see it, says Olof Lundh, editor-in-chief of TV4’s Fotbollskanalen.
When the television agreement for Allsvenskan was negotiated in 2017, the small market in the Nordics was red hot. High competition drove the price up to a record sum. A jingle in the coffers for the league of SEK 390 million last year alone.
But in 2024, the reality is different. The media companies are in crisis and are forced to lay off staff.
– What you can hope for from the Allsvenskan side is that an international actor like Dazn will come in, says Olof Lundh.
At the big club AIK, where the television revenue accounts for seven percent of the net turnover, it is anxious.
– There are reasons to be worried when you look at the signals we receive, says CEO Fredrik Söderberg.
Djurgården, Kalmar, Västerås and Värnamo are also worried, TV4’s survey shows. And for the latter, where television revenue accounted for nearly 35 percent of net sales last year, it could be a severe financial blow.
– It’s clear we are worried, if the price tag for the broadcast rights were to decrease, it would affect us quite a lot, says Christian Ahlander, financial manager for Värnamo.
“The rights bubble has burst”
In an icy spot market in the Nordics, the new contract to broadcast the Champions League was finalized just days before the final. It has never happened before. According to media reports, the price tag was halved from Telia’s one billion per season to Viaplay’s SEK 500 million. But the CEO of AIK thinks that Allsvenskan is undervalued.
– If the media houses can’t pay what we think the product is worth, we have to find other ways, says Fredrik Söderberg.
– That the Allsvenskan would get better exchange than a media agreement, I don’t even think they believe in themselves, says Lundh.