Analysis

In the first of a three-part series looking at the challenges for rights-holders in a bear market, we ask if sport should do the unthinkable in search of value: take content off social media platforms.

Uefa secured an excellent uplift for rights to Euro 2024 and Euro 2028 in the UK, capitalising on record audiences and the promise of a UK-hosted tournament in 2028. 

BeIN Sports renewed its exclusive Wimbledon rights in France for a further five years after agreeing to pay a slight uplift.

The future viability of the European Leagues centralised international media rights project is up for debate, after SportBusiness Media revealed two of the biggest participants were jumping out of the pool after just one cycle.

Uefa and the CAA Eleven agency earned a combined uplift in Italy from Rai and Sky Italia for European Championship rights, SportBusiness Media has learned.

The ICC closed its sales process in the subcontinent with an uplift in Bangladesh, though in Sri Lanka it was not able to defy the current difficulties of the market.

Globo’s renegotiated deal for rights to the 2026 Fifa World Cup has given Fifa hope of extracting even more from Brazil than it otherwise would have done, as its sales agent LiveMode prepares to take an additional premium package of rights to the market.

The dream of a unified, centralised Brasileirão will have to wait until 2030 at the earliest as years of public pettiness between clubs, meetings about meetings and arguments over small amounts of money have resulted in another resounding victory for Brazil’s biggest media group, Globo.

The backlash to the rights centralisation approval by the FIS council, which the federation claims will “pave the way” for an exclusive deal with Infront, has galvanised leading ski nations to pursue their own rights sales concept that would squeeze agency margins.

After beIN walked away from its F1 rights in 2019, Qatar has since re-embraced F1, with the most recent investment being beIN's 10-year deal for F1 media rights in Mena and Turkey.

Pitch International and Relevent Sports Group outbid their agency rivals to land English Football League international rights from 2024-25 to 2027-28, with their respective strengths in two particular regions – Mena and the US – key to the final result.

Dentsu's deal with the Hong Kong government for rights to Paris 2024 has helped the agency keep its sales total ticking as the final deals of the 2018-24 Olympic cycle are completed.

The future of professional tennis – structurally and commercially – will be decided in the coming weeks. On one side are the ATP and WTA tours; on the other, the four Grand Slams. Investment from Saudi Arabia appears to have tipped the balance in favour of the tours.

New Zealand Cricket struck a new long-term deal with Sony Pictures Networks which is a slight increase on the current fee, but which will rise strongly if a second India series takes place over the term.

Ongoing payment delays at Skweek threaten to erode rights-holders’ confidence despite its insistence that it merely requires more time, yet there are signs of it working through its issues with Euroleague Basketball, certainly until the end of the season at least.