The Portuguese top league, Liga Portugal, is reportedly considering selling a stake in its media rights sales. The league has engaged the services of Oakvale Capital to advise on this potential sale.
Liga Portugal plans to centralize its media rights sales by the 2027-28 season. This move is expected to help balance wealth distribution among the league's clubs. Currently, heavyweight teams like Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, and Porto receive significantly more for broadcast rights covering their home games than other sides.
Most clubs in the 18-team top league currently sell their own rights. However, a new law mandates that this must change and that the league should adopt a centralized model by 2028-29 - similar to most Western European soccer leagues.
Role of Oakvale Capital
Oakvale Capital has been hired as an advisory and consultancy firm for this process. While details about their specific role are scarce, they have confirmed that they are working alongside Liga Portugal.
The London-based firm will assist with presentations from interested parties at an investor day scheduled for late April. Liga Portugal is also contemplating selling a separate stake in another vehicle containing technology, data, and other commercial assets outside of media rights. Both these potential transactions would require approval from the league's clubs.
This move follows recent trends seen in other European leagues such as Spain's LaLiga which sold off a 10% stake to CVC Capital Partners private equity firm for roughly $2.3 billion in 2021; followed by purchasing up 13% of French soccer's premier Ligue 1’s media rights operations next year.
Future plans
In addition to centralizing its media right sales from the 2027-28 season onwards, Liga Portugal plans on going public with its initial tender for the bundled rights either later this year or early in 2027.
Liga Portugal and the country's soccer federation (the FPF) are working on establishing a new body to handle these sales. This is the same body that Oakvale Capital is reportedly helping sell a stake in. Oakvale Capital isn't just involved with soccer. The firm also has interests in cricket, specifically securing owners for teams in the upcoming European T20 Premier League, which aims to launch later this year.
Liga Portugal's move towards centralizing its media rights sales and potential stake sale represents an important shift within Portuguese football. It aligns with broader trends seen across European football leagues and could have significant implications for wealth distribution among clubs.
