A landmark EFL business decision which takes a leaf out of Tyson Fury’s camp’s book is set to provide a financial boost for Leeds United.
Fury and Leeds have endured similar sporting fates in recent weeks.
The West Yorkshire side suffered a 1-0 defeat to Southampton in the Championship play-off final at the end of May.
A week earlier, Fury lost by a split decision in the biggest fight of his career, the battle with Oleksandr Usyk to become undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in Riyadh.
Interestingly, a call made by the 35-year-old’s representatives ahead of that night mirrors a similar move made by the EFL with regards to broadcast rights.
It’s good news for Leeds in the short term. And it tells us something about the EFL’s TV strategy going forward.
EFL agree £15m broadcast deal
Sky Sports recently announced that they had struck a deal with ITV to show a tranche of Championship and League Cup fixtures next season.
Up to 20 live matches will be shown for free on ITV from January 2025 in an agreement believed to be worth around £15m (iNews).
It will mark the first time in many years that the domestic EFL deal has been split on a non-exclusive basis, with matches shown simultaneously by more than one broadcaster.
Interestingly, this mirrors the approach taken by the money men behind the Fury-Usyk bout in Saudi Arabia, which was aired on Sky Sports, DAZN, TNT Sports and Amazon simultaneously.
Several industry experts, such as Sports Pro Media’s Nick Meacham, remarked on the unusual choice to show the fight on a non-exclusive basis.
In the EFL’s case, it means Leeds fans who do not pay for Sky will likely be able to watch their team in league action on free-to-air television for the first time in a generation.
A sign of things to come?
The sublicensing agreement may tell us something about the direction of travel in the sports broadcast market.
In football particularly, there is growing frustration that supporters of the likes of Leeds are being priced out of both attending and watching live football.
There is a political awareness of this. The Liberal Democrats have even included an increase in free-to-air football part of their manifesto for the upcoming general election.
It could be that broadcasters are attempting to offset the substantial costs associated with acquiring exclusive rights.
Alternatively, it may also serve as a strategic branding initiative that, within the context of nine and ten-figure TV deals, offers a favourable, if unquantifiable, return on a relatively small investment.
Leeds to bank modest windfall from new Sky-ITV arrangement
While the cash from the innovative new agreement is dwarfed by the riches that were on offer to Leeds in the Premier League, it still represents a welcome windfall.
The EFL’s deal with Sky, which encompasses over 1,000 matches from next season, is worth £935m over five years.
Leeds are probably the most watched club in the EFL, so will get plenty of additional ‘facility fees’ when their matches are broadcast in addition to a share of the overall pot.
Whether the ITV-Sky deal will directly bump up that figure and see the likes of Leeds bank an additional windfall is unclear.
If it does, Leeds could trouser a six-figure windfall from the agreement.
In any case, the EFL has said that the deal has been given the green light by its clubs.
That means that, at the very least, the sublicensing deal will have been factored into the £935m headline figure agreed by Sky in May.
And that in itself will effectively mean that Leeds will feel the benefit regardless of whether it is directly attributable to the Sky-ITV deal.