Fifa's New Sales Strategy: More Tournaments and Higher Revenue
Fifa’s bold new sales pitch lays bare a simple truth: world football’s governing body believes the route to far greater riches runs through more tournaments, higher ticket prices and a willingness to take on debt.
In a 25-page presentation titled “Fifa Forward Enterprise Member Materials”, seen by the Guardian and circulated to all 211 member associations on Wednesday night, Fifa sets out the case for carving off a fifth of its commercial arm and selling it to a new investor group led by US financier Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
The document, drawn up by JP Morgan – the same bank that helped architect the doomed European Super League project – pitches the creation of a new company to run Fifa’s commercial operations, with 20% of that entity going to Kushner’s group.
More tournaments, more money, more strain
The growth model is blunt. JP Morgan spells it out: a “growing tournament portfolio”, “third party sources of capital and debt financing”, and a focus on “high yield” partnerships and events. In other words: stage more competitions, squeeze more from broadcasters and sponsors, and borrow to go bigger.
One line jumps out. The number of global tournaments Fifa stages each year could be more than doubled, from around 200 to 450. If that vision ever becomes reality, it would heap extraordinary pressure on an already stretched calendar and on player workloads that are close to breaking point.
The most lucrative lever of all is obvious. A more frequent World Cup. Gianni Infantino floated the idea of a biennial World Cup five years ago and met fierce resistance from leagues, players and fans. Yet the prospectus makes clear that staging the showpiece more often remains central to the financial upside being sold to members.
Debt, TV paywalls and a Super League echo
The bank argues that Fifa is “undermonetized” and leans on comparisons with major US sports leagues to make its case. Fifa’s stated annual revenue of $3.6bn is set against the NFL’s $21.2bn, Major League Baseball’s $13.1bn and the NBA’s $12.5bn.
But those are club and franchise businesses, not global governing bodies. That contrast has already jarred with some inside the game, who see the comparison as skewed from the start.
The sales deck also points to a more aggressive approach to broadcasting income, talking up plans to “expand and optimize media rights monetization”. In plain terms, that means pushing more of the biggest events, including the World Cup, behind subscription TV or streaming paywalls to drive up rights fees.
Despite Fifa sitting on cash reserves of around $4bn and having generated roughly $15bn over the current four-year cycle, JP Morgan’s blueprint leans heavily on debt financing. That has triggered immediate concern among senior figures who question why a cash-rich organisation needs to borrow at all – and why it should do so to fund a schedule that already feels saturated.
A rushed timeline and a silent partner
The timeline proposed in the document has raised eyebrows too. According to the sales deck, “Investors will be given access to a term sheet and select materials” in August – before Fifa’s 211 members have even voted on whether to approve the deal.
The identity of the investor group is referenced only lightly, with scant detail on projected returns, governance structures or exit terms. For a transaction that would hand a private consortium a 20% stake in Fifa’s commercial future, the lack of transparency is striking.
Some association officials have already questioned how they are expected to sign off on a deal of this scale without fuller disclosure on who exactly will profit, on what timescale, and with what influence over the sport’s commercial direction.
One glaring omission
Perhaps the most telling detail in the entire 25-page document is what is not there.
Across the whole prospectus, there is not a single mention of women’s football.
At a time when the women’s game is growing faster than almost any other segment in sport, and when Fifa has repeatedly claimed it wants to elevate it, the omission is stark. It leaves member associations to wonder where women’s football truly sits in Fifa’s long-term commercial vision – and whose interests this deal is really built to serve.
