Fox used inside information from FIFA to secure the rights to televise the World Cup in the United States, a former sports marketing executive testified in federal court according to a Friday evening report from The New York Times.
Alejandro Burzaco, a former banker acting as a witness for the justice department, told officials that he acted as an intermediary when Fox sought to wrestle the World Cup package away from ESPN in 2011.
Fox wound up winning the package and televised the men’s tournament in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, and will do so when the World Cup is held in North America in 2026.
Burzaco testified that he acted as a middleman in negotiations between Hernán López—a former Fox International executive accused of money laundering and wire fraud—and FIFA higher-up Julio Grondona. López, whom prosecutors say helped deliver Fox rights to the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana at far below market value, was allegedly told by Grondona through Burzaco that “if Fox puts up $400 million, then it will win.”
Fox indeed secured the World Cup rights for “more than $400 million,” as reported by the Times in 2011. It beat out ESPN and NBC, both of which were, according to Burzaco, under the impression they were bidding blind.
The testimony came amid federal prosecutors’ continued inquiry into corruption in soccer, in which López, fellow former executive Carlos Martínez and Argentine firm Full Play Group are defendants.
Fox denied Burzaco’s allegations and cited the fact that Fox International was a division of 21st Century Fox, which is no longer affiliated with the current Fox Corporation after its 2019 sale.
