Sky agrees record £935m five-year TV deal with Football League
LONDON: The Football League – the three divisions below the Premier League – have approved a record new five-year live television deal with Sky Sports worth £935m.
The deal will see 1,000 matches either broadcast on television or streamed each season, starting from 2024-25.
Clubs were told details of the Sky offer on Friday morning and unanimously approved the agreement.
The league entered into an exclusive month-long negotiating period with the broadcaster in April after naming it their preferred bidder.
The deal represents a 50% increase in value on the £595m year deal the EFL has had with Sky since 2018, and which some Championship clubs believed undervalued their product. It currently televises 138 EFL league games each season.
The broadcaster has held the league’s live rights since 2002.
Reports had suggested streaming platform DAZN wanted to show every game live, ending the traditional Saturday 3pm TV blackout, which is designed to protect lower-league attendances.
The EFL had said it was willing to consider scrapping the Saturday blackout but it will be kept in place under the new deal.
However, more matches will be available to stream, with six games across the Championship, League One and League Two set to begin at 12:30 each Saturday.
In total, 1,059 EFL matches are set to be broadcast every season – four times more than now.
What is included in the deal?
There will be 10 live EFL fixtures shown every weekend, with five from the Championship and five from League One and League Two.
All opening, midweek and final-day EFL matches will be shown live, as will all games played on Bank Holidays and League One and Two matches that are held during international breaks.
Each season, Sky Sports will broadcast a minimum of:
328 Championship matches
248 League One matches
248 League Two matches
All 15 play-off matches
All 93 Carabao Cup matches
All 127 EFL Trophy matches
There will be a minimum of four cameras at Championship and League One matches that are streamed and at least two for League Two games.
The new deal allows for the blocked broadcast period between 14:45 and 17:15 on Saturday afternoons to remain, meaning that main broadcast fixtures will be scheduled for outside of this time.
‘A landmark broadcast deal’
The new arrangement will be made up of guaranteed payments of £895m, and £40m in marketing rights.
That is a 50pc increase on the league’s current deal with Sky Sports, which expires at the end of next season. Championship clubs will get an extra 46pc in TV revenue, while League One and Two get 25pc more.
#######
