Contract with Italian football federation

The RAI Administrative Council has just ratified the contract signed with the National Football Federation for matches involving the Italian national team.

The new agreement is a 4-year partnership contract (with a 2-year probationary period) and replaces the previous contract which was a rights-sale contract. 

RAI is paying € 94 million for the broadcast rights for matches involving the national teams (including the under-21 side) in Italy (compared with € 125 million for the previous contract). 

RAI will become worldwide rightsholder, except for the country of the opponent team. For matches held outside Italy, the Italian Football Federation will acquire the rights for Italy and will cede them to RAI for a fixed price of € 1 million, which is much lower than the price paid in the past.

The agreement includes the possibility to insert a commercial "mini-spot" during the matches and to use pictures of the national team for mobile telephone services and the Internet. Within this framework RAI will pay the Federation 30% of revenue from these spots and an additional € 5 million for the telecom use of pictures.

RAI will be able to interview the players before kick-off, at half-time and straight after the match. It will also produce and broadcast once a year a public awareness campaign on topics chosen by the Italian Football Federation.