Premier League announces record $8.45 bn domestic TV deal

LONDON: The Premier League announced on Monday it had agreed a record £6.7 billion ($8.45 billion) domestic television rights deal for four years starting from the 2025/26 season.

The current deal is reported to be worth around £5 billion over a three-year cycle and covers 200 matches per season.

The English top flight hailed the agreements shared between different broadcasters as the “largest sports media rights deals ever concluded in the UK”.

Sky Sports and TNT Sports have retained their rights to show live matches, with Amazon, currently showing 20 matches per season, not part of the next cycle. Sky will screen a minimum of 215 live matches per season while TNT will broadcast 52. BBC Sport will continue to broadcast highlights via its Match of the Day program.

A Saturday afternoon blackout, designed to protect attendances in the lower leagues, will remain but for the first time, all matches outside of those scheduled for 3:00 pm on Saturday will be screened live.

The Premier League boasted of a four percent increase in live rights value compared with the previous process but the broadcasters will be paying significantly less per game because they will be showing more matches each season.

“The outcome of this process underlines the strength of the Premier League,” said the Premier League´s chief executive, Richard Masters. “It is a testament to our clubs, players, and managers who continue to deliver the world´s most competitive football in full stadiums, and to supporters, who create an unrivaled atmosphere every week.”

He added: “As longstanding and valued partners, Sky Sports and TNT Sports are renowned for consistently delivering world-class coverage and programming. “We have enjoyed record audiences and attendances in recent seasons, and we know that their continued innovation will drive more people to watch and follow the Premier League.”

The Premier League said the new deal would provide financial certainty for clubs throughout professional football until at least 2029. It is the first Premier League tender process since 2018 as the current deal was rolled over in 2021 for an extra three years due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The deal will maintain the huge financial advantage Premier League clubs enjoy over their European competitors thanks to far more lucrative domestic and international TV rights deals.

International rights for the English top flight overtook the value of domestic rights for the first time last year and are estimated to bring in £5.3 billion between 2022 and 2025. The Premier League accounted for 11 out of the top 20 clubs in this year´s Deloitte Football Money League, with champions Manchester City in top spot.