Details of Argentina's visit to China in June to play an exhibition match are coming to light, with mainland media revealing that Argentina's appearance fee is as high as US$5 million (about HK$39 million), guaranteeing that the king of the ball, Mez, will play for at least 45 minutes.
Mainland Sports Economic Watch reported that Argentina's $5 million appearance fee is a basic fee, while other fees include ticket sales, broadcasting fees, and other commercial revenues, and as the freshly minted World Cup champions with a large number of fans in China, this fee is not excessive.
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the original plan of the tournament through the CCTV network to earn income from pay-per-view, but Argentina focus on the traditional television broadcasting rights revenue, with the tournament to see the same, but also because of the domestic copyright price is too low, coupled with piracy and pirated viewing problems, the two sides on the broadcasting billing negotiations have reached a stalemate.
The report also disclosed that the match was not hosted by China to face Argentina, but by Australia, because the organizer is not a professional sports organization, inexperienced in the examination and approval process of the match, and did not consult the CFA and get a reply to confirm beforehand, which resulted in the national football team not being able to play, and the Australian team will have to play instead. Argentina will face Australia on June 15 in Beijing and Indonesia on June 19 in Jakarta.
