Recent news about China Super League’s media partner China Sports Media (CSM) postponing the second payment of the rights fee has gone viral. Soccer News, a top sports newspaper in China, revealed on their official Weibo account that the media partners of the second and third tier football league in China, China League and Chinese Football Association Division Second League (C2L), had also asked to amend their contracts with the two leagues.

Due to significant policy reforms taking place in the CSL which has greatly influenced CSL’s operations and commercial value, CSM needed to postpone the current payment due and re-negotiate with the Chinese Football Association to reduce the price of CSL’s media rights.

As these new policies are also available for China League, China League’s media partner Charm Sports has reportedly asked for changes to the media rights contract between them and the league for similar reasons to CSM. C2L’s media partner Winlink Sports have also joined CSM and Charm Sports in asking for renegotiations to be opened on the media rights contract. 

In 2016, Charm Sports captured China League’s title sponsorship right and media rights on a 5-year deal with Winlink also becoming the C2L’s 5-year title sponsor and broadcasting partner in the same year. According to Hupu.com, Winlink was the first title sponsor of C2L and the first media partner to introduce live streaming of C2L’s matches on both TV and Internet platforms. 

Source: hupu.com 

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick