The English Football League (EFL) has secured record deals worth at least £148million (AU$286.6 million) for its international TV rights across a four-season period.
The EFL has ensured guaranteed international rights fees with two agencies, Pitch International and Relevent Sports, distributing the content across global TV markets until the conclusion of the 2027-28 season.
The Pitch International deal is worth at least AU$199.8m and the Relevant Sports deal is worth AU$86.8m with the EFL covering every corner of the earth in a bid to expand the lower divisions of English football.
Pitch International covers Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Asia and will distribute 155 Championship games, 38 League One and League Two matches, all promotion play-off fixtures, Carabao Cup rounds, and three EFL Trophy matches. Australians can watch all distributed EFL matches through a beIN Sports subscription.
Relevent Sports, who cover the Americas (North, Central and South) region, will sell all EFL matches, promotion play-off games, Carabao Cup rounds, and three EFL Trophy fixtures. Additionally, they will manage all betting rights throughout the United States.
EFL chief executive Trevor Birch mentioned the importance this brings to both exposure of the league and revenue for clubs in the EFL.
“These new agreements represent not only guaranteed levels of revenue but also present the League and our 72 clubs with a fantastic opportunity to establish further the EFL as a premium football brand in markets across the world,” he said in a statement released by the EFL.
“In Pitch and Relevent we have two partners with an in-depth understanding of the global TV rights markets and that knowledge, coupled with the enthusiasm of their teams, will hopefully ensure we achieve our objective of delivering value to Clubs alongside taking EFL football to as wide an audience as possible outside the UK.”
Fans overseas won’t miss out on their own teams matches despite the limited number of distributed games.
“Importantly, clubs will be able to continue international streaming services direct to fans overseas, where matches are not being broadcast exclusively, enabling those based abroad the chance to watch their team’s matches throughout the whole season,” Birch added.
This international agreement comes shortly after the EFL signed a domestic rights agreement with broadcaster Sky Sports, valued at a whopping AU$1.8 billion over five years. This deal ensures over 1,000 matches each season are broadcasted to local fans.
Another big milestone from the EFL after a record-breaking domestic rights deal. The league have ambitions of seeing exponential growth in the Americas and Africa with this deal and have made it significantly easier for fans all around the world to view the leagues.