Six Nations and southern hemisphere unions sell broadcast rights together

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 4 Nov, 17:39 · Archive

Rugby's major unions have agreed to sell all their media rights collectively for the first time, sharing revenues across continents.

The Six Nations and Sanzaar unions have agreed to sell all their media rights and commercial deals collectively in a new revenue-sharing model. This is the first arrangement of its kind in sport, allowing southern hemisphere nations to receive a share of profits generated by the Six Nations and British & Irish Lions tours, whilst European countries will benefit from broadcast and sponsorship deals created by the Rugby Championship and Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series between New Zealand and South Africa.

The sales process will be managed by a new rights management agency set up by a 10-person board created to run the Nations Championship. The board comprises two co-chairs and the chief executives of the 10 founding unions: England, Ireland, France, Wales, Scotland, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. Commercial and media rights for the Nations Championship are already sold collectively and revenue is shared between the members.

The unions have moved to pool rights for international rugby outside the World Cup in hopes of achieving growth in a difficult media market. Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, said: 'In effect, we are creating a commercial rights agency which sits underneath the 10 Nations Championship founding unions. We think that will result in a much better and more efficient approach to the market, obviously with the intention of increasing overall valuations and growing the commercial side of the game.' The 2028 Nations Championship finals, originally planned for Qatar, will now be hosted elsewhere, with France, Spain and England among the interested bidders.

How it is being reported

• Top rugby nations to overhaul TV rights in bid to grow revenueThe Six Nations and Sanzaar have strengthened their relationship in a significant change for the sportIndependent Sport · 4 Nov, 17:06
• Six Nations and Sanzaar agree to sell global broadcast rights together in unique dealRugby’s biggest unions aiming to grow revenues New rights management agency to oversee sales The Six Nations and Sanzaar unions have agreed to sell all their media rights and commercial deals collectively for the first time in a new revenue-sharing model. In an innovative arrangement that is the first of its kind in sport, the southern hemisphere nations will receive a share of the profits generated by the Six Nations and British & Irish Lions tours, while the European countries will benefit from broadcast and sponsorship deals generated by the Rugby Championship and the Rugby’s Greatest…The Guardian · 4 Nov, 17:00

In this story: Six Nations · Sanzaar · New Zealand · South Africa · England · Bill Sweeney · Rugby Football Union · British & Irish Lions

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