Fifa and Netflix: Sport's next power couple?

The World Series began last night, with two relative minnows facing off to be crowned best team in US baseball.

The Milwaukee Brewers, owned by credit trader turned sports team owner Mark Attanasio, are featuring in the World Series for the first time in 44 years. They are taking on the Tampa Bay Rays, owned by property developer Patrick Zalupski. The two rank 19th and 28th out of 30 teams respectively in payroll size, yet have outplayed deep-pocketed rivals that have an inherent edge in MLB's capless system. Moneyball , after all, was a baseball story.

Attanasio also owns Norwich City in English football's second tier, where the data-driven approach has not yet paid off. The Canaries sit 21st in the league table, a single point above the relegation zone. While Brighton and Brentford have successfully turned analytics into points, others are finding it far harder to reproduce the same results.

This week we explore why Fifa and Netflix could be a match made in media rights heaven. Plus, a chunky M&A deal in Spanish football. Do read on — Josh Noble, sports editor

For all the drama behind the scenes, Fifa's World Cup this summer was a commercial blockbuster. The tournament capped a four-year cycle in which football's global governing body brought in more than $15bn of revenue, while the sport itself garnered record-smashing audiences in the US.

The iron is still hot, and Fifa wants to strike. This week it launched the rights tender process in the US for the 2030 (and potentially 2034) men's World Cup.

These rights haven't been out to tender in nearly 15 years, much to the benefit of Fox. Its sports channel carried English-language coverage in the US this summer, having paid less than $500mn. The US rights for Spanish coverage fetched $600mn.

Romy Gai, chief business officer at Fifa, wouldn't be drawn on how high he thinks the rights will go for next time. On a call with journalists this week, he said they expected a big number of interested parties and that Fifa was hoping to bundle English and Spanish-language rights together.

The 2030 World Cup will be in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, making the timezone less favourable to the US audience, especially on the west coast. Fifa's own budget projects increased TV income of $800mn over the next cycle, but that is a global figure and includes other tournaments, such as the women's World Cup and the Club World Cup. Expect the increase in US rights alone to be significantly higher than that figure.