Football president Lise Klaveness is worried that TV revenues will fall. They do that all over Europe.

TV 2 has bought Norwegian football until 2028. They pay NOK 750 million a year for the rights. The agreement applies from 2023 to 2028 and was concluded in December 2020.

– A lot has happened in the media market since then, says Klaveness to VG.

– The values ​​of football rights have for the first time stopped. The Champions League has decreased significantly from the previous round, continues the president of the Norwegian Football Association.

– We cannot count on or believe that this does not apply to Norwegian football. And although the agreement with TV 2 lasts until 2028, preparations for a new agreement start already now.

– Are you worried?

– We cannot be naiveNaive means gullible, simple-minded, gullible or childish (snl.no). in Norway and think that this does not affect us. So we have to prepare well, because this is the most important and biggest source of income for Norwegian football. So it’s something we have a high level of preparedness for.

Lise Klaveness says that she already brought this up in her speech to the football parliament in 2024.

– TV2 does a fantastically important and good job, but we want as much competition as possible at the next crossroads. We want the product to increase in value, but that is not what is trending in Europe now, neither in the Champions League nor national team rights or club rights. So of course that’s a concern.

At the same time that fewer and fewer people see linear TV“regular” TV.Klaveness believes that they must look at new opportunities to raise money:

– How do we relate to the data that comes out of the matches? Data has enormous potential value. I think there is a lot at stake here, and we have to put ourselves in the driver’s seat of the processes.

– Are you thinking of the individual football fan?

– Yes, it is about finding new values ​​in the rights themselves. It is reasonable to think that combat data will become more and more important in the future – when you see how society develops, how we work with insights and data.

Media expert Lasse Gimnes at GimCom AS believes that the football president is right to think that TV rights may not be as lucrative in the future:

– Many Norwegian and Nordic media companies are struggling with profitability – and this quickly has consequences for the bidding rounds and willingness to pay for content, football included, says Gimnes to VG.

– Viaplay is struggling with huge losses, Discovery has had its problems and TV 2 is not delivering impressive results either. This is bad news for those who will sell sports rights.

Gimnes says that the media live primarily on income from subscriptions and advertising, and that this is not positive:

– When, according to the Media Agency Association’s figures, the advertising market in Norway falls by around five percent in the first quarter of 2024 and several media players experience that the subscription market is stagnating – yes, then it is serious for the Norwegian media.

– When we also know that many thieves look at so-called premium sportsPremium sports refers to sports content that you have to pay to watch., then it doesn’t make matters much better for those who are going to sell sports rights. It will be difficult to get a price increase for sports rights in the near future, Lasse Gimnes believes.

– But isn’t that something positive?

– Yes! The positive thing for those who will sell football is that actors such as Amazon and Disney are starting to sign up in the fight for sports rights in the Nordics. The fact that Viaplay sold Premier League matches to Amazon in Sweden and Denmark is interesting. The fact that Disney has also bought the Europa League and Conference League in the markets of Sweden and Denmark is also interesting. It is clear that these are actors that can be beneficial for the Norwegian Football Association and Norwegian Top Football to have in bidding rounds.