Juventus face years of cash woes after scandal

MILAN, July 14 (Reuters) Juventus are bracing themselves for relegation in a match-fixing trial that could knock the Italian champions' sponsorship income, television rights deals and ticket sales for years to come.

Just how much Juventus will suffer financially depends on the harshness of the verdict, expected later today, at the end of a football fraud trial that also involves top clubs Lazio, AC Milan and Fiorentina.

In one of Italy's biggest sporting scandals, Juventus risk being kicked into the third-tier Serie C, where the top club would play against small-town sides such as Taranto, while the others could drop to the second division, Serie B.

''The biggest piece in the puzzle are the TV rights, where the viewer numbers for B are much lower than for A,'' said Harry Philp, managing director of Hermes Sports Partners, a sports corporate advisory firm.

Broadcasters Mediaset and Sky Italia, main players in the multi-million euro deals for television rights, have suggested they will try to renegotiate if Juventus are relegated.

But Philp said a demotion of four of Italy's most worshipped clubs could shift the balance and attract more viewers to Serie B, while Serie A could lose some shine without its superstars.

''If they go to B together with Lazio and the others, that might actually reduce the money going to Serie A,'' he said.

COLLECTIVE DEAL There is another snag, however: television rights for Serie B are negotiated collectively and the matches are shown by state broadcaster RAI, meaning any exclusive rights deal is pointless.

Mediaset, which paid some 82.39 million dollar for broadcasting rights for the 2006-2007 season, and Sky Italia plan to take a decision after the official verdict on July 25, following the appeals procedure.

Changes to the deals will be complicated because the sports broadcasting rights have been sold to multiple platforms: analogue, satellite, ADSL, digital pay-per-view and mobile TV.

A Mediaset spokesman said its digital terrestrial television rights for 2006-2007 would be the first to be renegotiated.

If Juventus drop to Serie C, which would further delay any return to Serie A, the broadcasters could also consider renegotiating the 2007-2008 season.

''It's hard to estimate what the loss would be. The only Serie C club that's shown on Sky is Napoli, so one would need to look at how much the rights for Napoli are worth,'' said Francesco Portolano, a media lawyer at Rome-based law firm Portolano Colella Cavallo.

Sponsors Nike and Tamoil have so far not threatened to withdraw support, but are likely to at least reduce funding.

As for Juventus's share price, which more than halved after the scandal broke, much of the bad news is already priced in.

Shares started diving in May, when newspapers published transcripts of phone calls between Juventus's then general manager Luciano Moggi and Italian soccer officials during which they discussed referee appointments.

The shares were up 6.3 percent at 1.57 euros at 1215 GMT today, as traders hoped the verdict might say Serie B.

REUTERS AY HS2053