IAAF Enters 'New Digital Era' With Media Tender

(ATR) The rights to broadcast theIAAFWorld Athletics Seriesin Europe and Africa are open. For the first time, media companies can bid through a publicly declared tender.

The International Association of Athletics Federationslaunched a tender for the World Athletics Series yesterday in order to be more transparent in negotiations. Information about the tender can be found here.

An IAAF spokesperson told Around the Rings by this morning "we had at least 10" parties interested in bidding for the rights, and that number has only increased. The rights became available after the current contract with the European Broadcasting Union expired.

The World Athletics Series includes IAAF World Championships in a number of disciplines and age groups. The period for which the rights will cover depends on how negotiations go, according to a release from the federation.

"We decided at this stage to do things differently to be more open and to give the chance to everybody to participate in this tender," the IAAF spokesperson said to ATR. "We had unbelievable feedback. There is a huge interest and we’re looking forward to start discussions with all the interested parties."

The IAAF could not say that all future media rights would be negotiated through a public tender, as contracts exist with marketing company Dentsu to negotiate rights. The spokesperson said those contracts vary in length, so it would be unfair to "start speculating".

In addition, Diamond League events would not be included in future tenders, given the IAAF is a stakeholder in a company that owns the event.

With the tender, the IAAF is welcoming the "the new media environment" into rights discussions in a more transparent way. The spokesperson said that given the size of some of the smaller championships in the World Athletics Series, some of the rights could be sold to digital outlets that would offer non-traditional options.

"It is the new media environment with social media, with digital media, world industry has changed and smaller events can be broadcast in a different way," the spokesperson said. "We are trying to enter into a new era, this is the main thing, not that we are unhappy with [certain broadcasters.]"

Written by Aaron Bauer

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