Russian TV balks at cost of World Cup

MOSCOW — Russia is investing $11 billion to prepare to host the 2018 World Cup soccer tournament, but if local TV networks can’t reach a deal for rights, Russians might never see a game.

Just 14 months ahead of the tournament, soccer’s international governing body FIFA is still looking for a broadcaster to carry the games in the host country. State-run TV channels have refused to meet FIFA’s target price of $120 million, more than three times what the country’s TV companies paid to air the previous World Cup. The standoff also means the local TV rights for the 2017 Confederation Cup, an eight-team tune-up event that starts in three months, haven’t been sold.

“If FIFA is waiting for someone from the government to come out with a bag of money and pay them, it might be a while before there’s a deal,” said Petr Makarenko, the head of Moscow sports marketing agency Telesport, which provided market analysis for the Russian channels for the FIFA negotiations. “It’s not unusual for prices to go up for each tournament, but not by 200 percent.” Talks are ongoing, FIFA said in a statement.

A local TV deal is usually in place years before the tournament. FIFA needs a network that can promote the games in Russia and provide some of the infrastructure needed to beam the event to billions of fans around the world. The contract with Brazilian broadcaster Globo was signed eight years before the country hosted the 2014 event.