The English Football League (EFL) clubs have voted in favour of a record-breaking five-year live television coverage deal with Sky Sports, worth £935m. The agreement, which will begin in the 2024-25 season, will see 1,000 matches either broadcast on television or streamed each season. On Friday morning, clubs were informed of the details of the Sky offer and unanimously approved it. The EFL had entered into an exclusive month-long negotiating period with the broadcaster in April after naming it their preferred bidder. The new deal is a 50% increase in value on the £595m yearly deal that the EFL has had with Sky since 2018, which some Championship clubs felt undervalued their product. The broadcaster has held the league’s live rights since 2002. Reports had suggested streaming platform DAZN wanted to show every game live, ending the traditional Saturday 3pm TV blackout, which is designed to protect lower-league attendances. The EFL had said it was willing to consider scrapping the Saturday blackout but it will be kept in place under the new deal. However, more matches will be available to stream, with six games across the Championship, League One and League Two set to begin at 12:30 each Saturday.
The new deal includes 10 live EFL fixtures shown every weekend, with five from the Championship and five from League One and League Two. All opening, midweek and final-day EFL matches will be shown live, as well as all games played on Bank Holidays and League One and Two matches that are held during international breaks. Sky Sports will broadcast a minimum of 328 Championship matches, 248 League One matches, 248 League Two matches, all 15 play-off matches, all 93 Carabao Cup matches and all 127 EFL Trophy matches each season. There will be a minimum of four cameras at Championship and League One matches that are streamed and at least two for League Two games. The new deal allows for the blocked broadcast period between 14:45 and 17:15 on Saturday afternoons to remain, meaning that main broadcast fixtures will be scheduled for outside of this time.
The new arrangement will be made up of guaranteed payments of £895m, and £40m in marketing rights. This is a 50% increase on the league’s current deal with Sky Sports, which expires at the end of next season. Trevor Birch, the chief executive of the EFL, called it a “landmark broadcast deal for EFL clubs”. He said: “This increased investment and coverage from Sky Sports will showcase much more of our compelling match action to fans, while delivering record rights values as we seek to make our clubs sustainable at all levels.”