English Football League clubs have unanimously approved a record domestic rights deal with broadcaster Sky Sports worth £935 million over a five-year period with over 1.000 matches to be broadcast each season – a record number of games for any club football agreement.
Running from season 2024/25 to season 2028/29, the arrangement will be made up of guaranteed payments of £895 million and £40 million in marketing benefits. In total, 1.059 EFL matches are set to be broadcast exclusively across existing Sky Sports channels or live via a Sky Sports streaming destination available on TV and mobile devices.
The new deal represents a 50% increase on the value of the current rights agreement and will see significantly enhanced exposure for all EFL clubs provided through on-air and digital support from Sky Sports to promote EFL competitions, clubs, and community initiatives. Each season, Sky Sports will broadcast a minimum of: 328 Sky Bet Championship matches, 248 Sky Bet League One matches, 248 Sky Bet League Two matches, all 15 Play-Off matches, all 93 Carabao Cup matches, and all 127 EFL Trophy matches.
Each League weekend fixture round will see ten live EFL fixtures shown. Five matches will be shown from the Sky Bet Championship and supporters of Sky Bet League One and League Two teams will now benefit from greater coverage than ever before with five of their games being broadcast live. For the first time ever, fans will also be able to watch every match from the Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy. Moreove, all opening, final day, and midweek fixtures in the Sky Bet EFL will be shown live, as will all games played on Bank Holidays including Easter, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day alongside the matches played in Sky Bet League One & Two during international breaks.
“After completing an extensive tender and negotiation process, this is a landmark broadcast deal for EFL clubs, establishing the League as a premium partner with a world-renowned broadcaster in Sky Sports. The EFL is an iconic sports property and one of the biggest and best attended leagues in European football. This increased investment and coverage from Sky Sports will showcase much more of our compelling match action to fans, while delivering record rights values as we seek to make our clubs sustainable at all levels,” said Trevor Birch, Chief Executive of the EFL.
“This is a ground-breaking deal for Sky and our long-standing partners, the EFL. We believe that fans of all 72 league clubs will benefit with increased coverage across all the leagues and competitions. With four times as many matches than we currently offer, we will capture even more of the excitement created by this unique league – and in a way that will be immediately accessible to millions of supporters. This is the biggest deal in football in terms of the number of matches being broadcast, and we look forward to working with the EFL and its 72 member clubs to give fans the most entertaining viewing experience,” added Jonathan Licht, Managing Director at Sky Sports.
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