The Super League, rugby league’s top-tier competition in the UK, has confirmed a new media rights tie-up with UK pay-tv broadcaster Sky Sports.
The deal comes after the broadcaster was announced as the preferred domestic partner of the league in August.
The three-year deal, which will begin with the 2024 Super League season, will see Sky broadcast every single game of the men’s competition live, including the playoffs and the grand final.
The grand finals of the Women’s Super League and the Wheelchair Super League will also be broadcast live on the channel, as will the men’s Super League’s annual Magic Weekend fixtures.
Despite the deal, Rugby League Commercial (RLC), the joint venture body in charge of rights distributions for rugby league, will retain the ability to distribute the league across other platforms, including free-to-air broadcast opportunities and a dedicated streaming platform.
The TV rights deal also promises to change how the Super League operates in-game, with video referees set to feature at every game in the league.
According to the league, multiple bids were tabled for the rights before the decision was made that Sky offered the best deal. Pay-TV rival TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) and global streaming giant DAZN are understood to have been in the mix.
Sky’s present two-year deal was due to expire at the end of this season. That agreement is believed to be worth around £25 million ($31.9 million) per season.
Sky has been a broadcast partner of the Super League since its formation in 1996, meaning that the new deal will take the partnership into its 30th year.
RLC managing director Rhodri Jones stated: “To have all six fixtures in every round of the men’s Super League televised will offer major new opportunities for RL Commercial and our clubs, as well as allowing supporters to watch many more matches – and also making it possible for us to have video referees at all matches, a truly significant development for the Super League competition.”
He continued: “Sky Sports also share our optimism about the potential for growth of the Women’s and Wheelchair Super Leagues in the next three years, so they also form an important part of the new deal.”
The announcement of the new media deal comes less than a week after RLC announced that the Super League was expanding its partnership with title sponsor Betfred on October 11.
Betfred has been the title sponsor of the men’s Super League, the top-tier competition of the sport, since 2017 and will continue to do so until 2026.
The expanded deal will also see Betfred take over as the sponsor of the women's and wheelchair category Super League competitions.
The deal, which has been lauded as the “most significant and wide-ranging” deal in the sport’s history, will represent a financial boost of 25% on the terms of the previous record deal.
