now that is money!
Real president announces mega-bucks TV deal
AFP
November 15, 2006
MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has announced a seven-season television rights contract worth 800 million euros (1.5 billion dollars).
However the name of the Spanish company which bought the rights for the broadcasting of matches by the nine-time European champions has not been revealed. The contract starts in the 2008/09 season.
"It's the richest contract in the history of world sport," said Calderon during a press conference on Wednesday.
Calderon said more details on the contract would be made public in the coming days.
Regional terrestrial broadcaster Telemadrid had made an estimated 120 million euros per season offer to capture Real's television rights in November.
That figure, reported by ABC newspaper, was supposed to be for the 2009 to 2013 seasons but was not confirmed by Telemadrid.
Sogecable, a filial of Canal Plus in Europe, currently hold the club's television rights until the ned of the season.
The company pays Real 55 millions euros per season.
Spanish sports daily Marca reported this summer that production giant Mediapro, which already holds the broadcasting rights for Barcelona, had offered Real Madrid 1.19 billion euros over seven seasons to buy their television rights.
