The English Football League (EFL) has secured a record international broadcast rights deal for the next four-year cycle.
Running until the end of the 2027/28 season, the agreements are worth £147.7m in total, according to multiple UK reports. This would mark a 40% revenue increase on the previous cycle.
The EFL, which governs the Championship, League One and League Two, has extended its partnership with Pitch International, which will continue to distribute its broadcast rights across Europe, MENA, and rest of the world regions.
Meanwhile, New York-based Relevent Sports will become the EFL’s distribution partner across North, Central and south America when the partnership kicks in from the 2024/25 campaign.
With Relevent now on-board, the EFL will aim to capitalise on the popularity of League Two outfit Wrexham across the US, which has surged since the arrival of incumbent owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021.
The sports and media rights agency has acquired rights to sell inventories for all EFL matches across the second, third and fourth tiers of English football, in addition to all Carabao Cup fixtures and EFL Trophy games.
Pitch’s distribution packages include 155 Championship matches, 38 fixtures from League One and League Two, and all play-off matchups, Carabao Cup games, and betting rights.
For the next broadcast rights cycle, the EFL will continue to allow clubs to stream matches not broadcast overseas on their own direct to consumer (DTC) platforms.
Last May, the EFL signed a five-year domestic rights deal with Sky Sports that reportedly fetched a record fee of £935m.
EFL CEO Trevor Birch said, “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.
“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.”
Boris Gartner, President of Relevent Sports, added, “We are confident that Relevent’s expertise in co-investing with our partners will deliver a fantastic viewing experience and will drive new fans to the EFL.
“We are passionate about football and this collaboration underscores our commitment to bringing one of Europe’s most watched and highest quality leagues to millions of sports fans throughout the Americas.’’
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