The offseason for European soccer is drawing to a close, with the top five European leagues preparing for their imminent restart.
The English Premier League (EPL) for the 2023-2024 season will commence first on August 12, 2023, with 20 teams set to compete in a total of 380 matches over 38 rounds.
Simultaneously, the opening battles for the French Ligue 1 and Spain's La Liga will also get underway. Meanwhile, Italy's Serie A and Germany's Bundesliga - which has fewer teams - are slated to start on August 19 and August 20 respectively.
Due to the interruption from the Qatar World Cup, the previous season had a more packed schedule, leading to a shorter summer break. Nonetheless, this hasn't prevented top teams from ramping up their preparations.
The summer transfer window for these top leagues will close on September 2. So far, the EPL has again taken the spotlight. According to a German transfer market website, of the top ten transfers based on fees, EPL clubs occupied eight spots. Notably, Arsenal's €116 million acquisition of Rice set both the summer and club's record.
In addition, Arsenal spent €75 million on Havertz, Manchester United acquired Danish striker Haaland for the same amount, while Manchester City broke the world record for a defender's transfer fee with a €90 million deal for Gwadior.
With several clubs bolstering their squads, the upcoming EPL season promises much excitement.
In the season opener, defending champions Manchester City will face newly-promoted Burnley, while Arsenal, fresh from their Community Shield victory, will go up against Nottingham Forest.
Having clinched a "treble" last season, Manchester City aims to achieve an unprecedented fourth consecutive EPL title. Furthermore, Chelsea, having undergone significant coaching and squad changes, and the rising Newcastle United are set to make the race for the Champions League spots intriguing.
In fact, the EPL, known for its elevated competitive level and fierce rivalries, has widened the commercial gap with other top European leagues. According to Deloitte's 2023 Football Money League, Manchester City leads with €7.31 billion in revenue, and of the top 20 clubs, over half (11) are from the EPL. This marks the first time in the study's 26-year history that one league's clubs have occupied more than half the spots.
This success is largely credited to broadcasting revenues, which serve as testament to the league's appeal.
Currently, EPL's domestic broadcasting rights are jointly held by Sky Sports, BT Sport, and Amazon, with contracts lasting until the end of the 2024-2025 season, valued at approximately £50 billion.
Additionally, as per The Times, overseas contracts for the EPL are set to reach £53 billion during this media rights cycle, pushing the total media rights value past the £100 billion mark.
In the domestic market, following a season where it broadcast four of the major leagues excluding La Liga, China Central Television (CCTV) will continue airing EPL matches. As per the current schedule, on the evening of August 12, CCTV5 will broadcast the match between Brighton and Luton.
In 2021, iQIYI Sports secured exclusive streaming rights for EPL in mainland China and Macau until 2025. As a result, all 380 EPL matches for the 2023-2024 season will be broadcast on various iQIYI platforms.
Furthermore, iQIYI Sports and China Mobile's Migu Video will continue to share rights for Serie A. Matches from La Liga and Ligue 1 will also be available on the Migu platform.
However, last season's Bundesliga, which was streamed on Migu, Tencent, and Dongqiu Emperor platforms, appears to have yet to finalize its broadcaster for the upcoming season. Currently, the aforementioned platforms only showcase match schedules in text and image formats.
