The British television broadcaster Sky Sports has secured the TV rights for the three English professional football leagues below the Premier League. Sky Sports will pay 595 million pounds (equivalent to around 668 million euros) for broadcasting rights for the single-track second, third and fourth league over the next five years. A corresponding agreement was approved by the English football league EFL.
The rights package includes a total of 138 games per season, including at least 20 games of the third and fourth league and various play-off games and matches of the English League Cup. According to EFL, the increase compared to the previous contract is 35 percent.
"It's not sustainable to play in the championship"
In advance, several second division still had spoken out against the new regulation. Andrea Radrizzani, the owner of Leeds United, lamented the distribution key among the 72 teams in the three leagues. "It's not sustainable to play in the championship," said Radrizzani. 19 of the 24 clubs had completed the 2016/2017 game year, according to an analysis by the audit firm Deloitte at a loss. "Maybe we have to think about starting a 'Premier League Two'."
The new television agreement was therefore "a challenge," said EFL Board Debbie Jevans, it was all about managing the various interests of the 72 teams. The current market situation was checked by external consultants. Above all, the planning security offered by the deal with Sky Sports to the clubs was ultimately decisive for the extension.
The financial difference to the Premier League still remains huge. The top 20 English clubs will receive a total of £ 4.46 billion (€ 5.01 billion) from the new television agreement signed in February - for the next three years.