Thirty-two days before the start of the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, as many as three billion people have no idea whether they will be able to watch the biggest single sport event on the planet in their home. FIFA still doesn’t have a broadcast deal in place for China and India, as prospective bidders continue to play hardball.
The stalemate has forced a FIFA delegation – comprising secretary general Mattias Grafstrom and director of media rights Jean-Christophe Petit – to camp out in Beijing this week, trying to woo the country’s state broadcaster to buy broadcast rights to the tournament starting June 11.
According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), FIFA’s original demand for US$300 million had proved to be way above the US$80 million that China Central Television (CCTV) was willing to shell out. Negotiations had reportedly stalled at the US$120 million-150 million range.
Reuters had reported that in India, the Reliance-Disney joint venture proposed $20 million for the 2026 edition, which was a fraction of FIFA’s ask, as they rejected the deal last week.
SCMP speculated that FIFA was offering to slash the asking price by more than 50 per cent, but had maintained a deal would be thrashed out and announced by May-end in China.
‘Both sides were said to be optimistic about reaching a deal and an announcement could be made in the second half of May, with FIFA willing to make “significant concessions” for the tournament,’ SCMP wrote. CCTV, the publication reported, was willing to go up on the offer but the talks were to deliberate on packaging the 2026 and 2030 World Cups, the second one to be held in six countries – Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Odd viewing hours – 3 am in China – was quoted as the chief reason for Far East Asian broadcasters balking at the big sums demanded, knowing that China did not qualify for the tournament, leading to a ‘What’s in it for us?’ question looming.
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It’s not just India and China, things have not been smooth in the other Asian markets either. Thailand’s Prime Minister was forced to intervene and assure fans that they would not miss out, after the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) removed the FIFA World Cup from what’s called a ‘Must Have’ list last June. This meant it would no longer be shown on free-to-air television.
The outrage last month, as no deal was forthcoming, PM Anutin Charnvirakul had to step in.
“Previous governments ensured free access to the World Cup, and my administration should not be an exception,” he was quoted as saying by Thailand Enquirer.
Ahead of the 2022 edition too, the football-mad country had struggled to secure the rights before the Sports Authority of Thailand finalised a last-minute reported USD 33 million deal with FIFA, funded by the NBTC and private partners, including telecom giant True Corp, the Enquirer noted.
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Consequences of a no-show
Populations could get restive in case of a blackout once the tournament begins, James Walton, sports business leader at Deloitte Asia Pacific, told the Enquirer.
“One way or another, a deal will be reached. Realistically, fans in all these countries will definitely get to watch as their governments will realise the potential for unrest,” Walton was quoted as saying.
Four days ago in Malaysia, Communications minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil had to pledge an upper cap of USD 6.2 million government share so that Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) and Unifi TV could snap up the rights, for an undisclosed final amount, according to The Sun newspaper.
ASTRO, a pay-TV operator, which had held the rights the last half a dozen times, told The Sun that in recent years, inflation and escalating international sports broadcasting rights prices had driven up costs, making it difficult for them to win bids.
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The Asian markets have also been hit by widespread piracy, particularly during the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, which reduced the value of legitimate broadcasting rights, ASTRO – who lost the race this time – told The Sun.
While FIFA has maintained tight confidentiality on the negotiations in China, SCMP said a diagram had done the rounds of social media platform Weibo, with purported amounts of deals with FIFA: Thailand (USD 14 million), Japan (USD 200 million), Hong Kong (USD 25 million), Germany (USD 120 million), England (USD 350 million for two World Cups) and Italy (USD 80 million). A team incapable of qualifying was a blessing in disguise as it brought down the broadcast payouts, it was joked on Chinese socials.
FIFA, who had concluded agreements with broadcasters in over 175 territories globally, said in a statement to Reuters, “Discussions in China and India regarding the sale of media rights for FIFA World Cup 2026 are ongoing and must remain confidential at this stage.”
As per Reuters, China made up 17.7 percent of the global linear TV reach of the 2022 tournament, while India was at 2.9 percent, as the two countries accounted for 22.6 percent of total global digital streaming reach.
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While nostalgia and a sense of wry amusement hung in the air in India as unconfirmed news of Doordarshan salvaging FIFA World Cup broadcast rights swirled, India was only echoing other football watching markets in Asia; markets that are too big for FIFA to ignore.
