Euroleague Basketball, the organizer of top European club competitions, has announced the renewal of its TV rights deals in Italy for the continent’s two premier men’s basketball competitions, EuroLeague and EuroCup competitions, covering the 2024-25 season.
Sky Italia will broadcast all of the Italian teams - EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, Virtus Segafredo Bologna, Dolomiti Energia Trento, and Umana Reyer Venice - live on Sky TV channels and its Now streaming service, with at least two additional EuroLeague games every week.
DAZN meanwhile will continue as the over-the-top (OTT) platform broadcaster for Euroleague Basketball competitions in Italy, covering over 500 matches between the 2024-25 EuroLeague and EuroCup seasons.
There will also be daily updates on the Sky Sport 24 channel, two weekly shows (Basket Room Europa and EuroLeague Mixtape), and news reports on the skysport.it website as well as on Sky Sport's official social profiles.
Paulius Motiejunas, Euroleague Basketball chief executive, said: "Finalizing these broadcast agreements with Sky and DAZN guarantees that the best of European basketball will be delivered to our passionate fans in Italy.
“We are excited to maintain our partnerships, providing comprehensive coverage and bringing the excitement of Euroleague Basketball to Italian homes.”
Marzio Perrelli, executive vice president of sport at Sky, added: "This is an important announcement that strengthens the solid link between Sky and the world of basketball. Sky will dedicate great coverage to EuroLeague and EuroCup, with special attention to the path of the Italian teams.
“In addition to the NBA show, the best European club competitions restate that basketball is always central within the house of sport.”
Stefano Azzi, chief executive of DAZN Italia, also commented on the tie-up: "With the renewal of the agreement, European basketball remains solid in DAZN's multisport schedule and gives continuity to fans who will soon also be able to follow the basketball tournaments at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, thanks to Eurosport's dedicated channel included in the app, and the 2024-25 seasons of the Italian top basketball league and the Basketball Champions League.
“With the upcoming EuroLeague and EuroCup season, we are excited to consolidate the verticality of the basketball offerings in the app on DAZN, which aim to attract more and more interest from fans, while strengthening our role as a reference for national and international basketball.”
Earlier this month Euroleague announced a new partnership with WSC Sports, the Israel-based sports video content provider.
Under the agreement the EuroLeague and EuroCup, will make fully licensed footage available through the WSC Sports For Creators Program, “collaborating directly with creators to increase the online brand presence and engagement, while helping to reach new audiences outside of the existing fan base.”
Meanwhile, Euroleague Basketball achieved significant growth across several key business metrics for the 2023-24 season, it was recently unveiled, including for TV and digital audiences.
TV viewership experienced a huge rise, with a 27% increase compared to the 2022-23 season. A total of around 1.1 billion viewers tuned in to watch Euroleague content, whether live, delayed, or through highlights.
