Live broadcast rights are the most vital asset of major professional sports in Australia and overseas. The significant fees generated by their sale are the “lifeblood” revenue stream which fund expensive grassroots participation projects, strategic growth objectives and professional competitions.
These broadcast rights are equally important to broadcasters. They offer “must-have” unpredictable content that consistently attracts mass audiences and, as such, are an essential source of advertising and subscription revenue (in the case of pay-television broadcasters) while also enabling the cross-promotion of programming. The current broadcast deals of the three largest professional sports in Australia – the AFL ($4.5 billion), the NRL ($2 billion) and Cricket Australia ($1.5 billion) – are evidence of this demand.
While the consumption model for live sports broadcasts is increasingly shifting from a traditional regional broadcast model to streaming services and direct-to-consumer models in overseas markets (eg, the NFL and Major League Baseball in the US), this trend is yet to materialise in Australia. That is probably due to a “wait and watch” approach by major professional sports and perhaps will gain more momentum locally if tighter legislative settings for wagering advertising are introduced (shrinking sponsorship investment) and traditional free-to-air and subscription broadcasters continue to grapple with funding challenges.
2024 in review
This year has been relatively steady in terms of new or extended sports broadcast rights deals in Australia. The following developments are noteworthy:
- Melbourne Cup Carnival rights (February) – having acquired the Melbourne Cup Carnival broadcast rights from the Victoria Racing Club in mid-2023, Tabcorp entered into a deal with Nine Entertainment to air the races on the broadcaster’s free-to-air network for the next six years through to 2029. Tabcorp retained the subscription broadcast rights and will air the races on Sky Channel and in the TAB app, as well as locking in the exclusive wagering advertising partnership with Nine Entertainment. The deal is reportedly worth less than the $100 million paid by the incumbent free-to-air broadcaster (Network Ten).
- NBL rights (May) – NBL extended its broadcast partnership with ESPN and secured a new free-to-air broadcaster in Network Ten for the 2024/25 season. The one-year deal is reportedly worth $15 million. ESPN will broadcast the season through Foxtel, FoxtelGo and Kayo. Network Ten will broadcast one match per round of the season on its main channel and 10Play.
- Anti-siphoning laws (July) – the Parliament passed the Communications Legislation Amendment (Prominence and Anti-siphoning) Act 2024 (Cth) amending Australia’s anti-siphoning laws for sporting events of national significance. While the amendments broaden the scope of the existing scheme to cover and restrict the acquisition of rights to the listed sporting events by digital streaming platforms in addition to subscription broadcasters, their practical effect means that free-to-air broadcasters still do not have a specific first of refusal for digital streaming rights to the events. This means that the digital streaming rights to a listed sporting event could be purchased exclusively by a subscription-based digital streaming platform provided the television rights for the event have first been offered to a free-to-air broadcaster. The amendments extending the anti-siphoning will take effect in early 2025.
- Football Australia rights (August) – Football Australia entered into a landmark multi-year and multi-platform agreement with Network Ten/Paramount+ to broadcast an extended package of Matildas’ and Socceroos’ games through to 2028 (excluding the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup). The deal is reportedly worth $200 million.
- News Corp (August) – News Corp publicly announced that its 65% stake in Foxtel is on the market and began commercial discussions with potential buyers, including private equity firms. Foxtel has long-term subscription broadcast rights deals in place with the AFL and Cricket Australia (both ending in 2031) and will shortly commence renegotiations with the NRL for the next cycle. These deals may be impacted by a new majority owner and change in leadership of Foxtel as the broadcaster confronts the threat posed by the rapid growth in streaming. Telstra will also play a role in any potential sale given its 35% stake in Foxtel.
While overseas, the standout deal of 2024 was reached by the NBA which finalised a significant arrangement with Disney (ABC and ESPN), NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime. The 11-year deal is reportedly worth $76 billion (US dollars) and adopts a diverse distribution structure with games broadcast across free-to-air and subscription television and streaming platforms.
Outlook for sports broadcast rights
Looking forward, the most anticipated deal in Australia going into next year is the NRL broadcast rights (current deal expires after the 2027 season). The media and sports industries are patiently waiting to see whether the NRL will stick with a traditional regional broadcast model or will adopt a more progressive and fragmented approach to distributing its games for the next cycle. Traditionally, the NRL has demonstrated a willingness to seek broader and more diverse audiences by taking advantage of new broadcasting technologies and, with growth in the US as a key strategic objective, we may see the introduction of a major streaming partner or other alternative streaming arrangement. The NRL may face challenges to surpass the value of the AFL’s current deal at a time when the traditional broadcasting market has unprecedented complexity and uncertainty.
The 2027 Rugby World Cup is being held in Australia and the local broadcast rights are yet to be sold. Media reports suggest that Nine Entertainment is the leading suitor (the broadcaster currently holds the Rugby Australia broadcast rights), but that may be complicated by recent change in leadership and various financial and operational challenges within the business this year.
Meanwhile, politicians continue to debate the tightening of wagering advertising restrictions in Australia following the Parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and the finalisation of the Federal Government’s response to the You Win Some, You Lose More report. The early sentiment was that most of the recommendations set out in the report would be implemented. However, that view has waned in recent weeks and it seems that the Federal Government is becoming more sympathetic to the commercial implications that greater restrictions would have on sponsorship investment into the media and sports industries. This will be a key issue to follow and the outcome could have a significant impact on the online wagering, broadcast rights and sponsorship landscape in Australia.
Summary of sports and racing broadcast rights in Australia
As we lead into Grand Final weekend in the AFL and Preliminary Final weekend in the NRL, it is timely to release our Summary of Sports and Racing Broadcast Rights in Australia.
Please contact Lachlan Gepp if you have any questions about this article or media/sports rights more generally.