EFL have announced a landmark £935m broadcast deal with Sky Sports on a five-year contract until conclusion of 2028-29 season.
Starting from 2024-25 season, Sky will broadcast over 1,000 matches per season which is a record number of televised games in any Club football broadcast agreement.
Sky will pay £895m in guaranteed payments alongside £40m in marketing benefits, with 1,059 EFL matches broadcast exclusively across Sky Sports channels or live via a Sky Sports streaming destination across TV and mobile devices.
Under the new contract, Sky have increased their broadcast selection of Championship matches to 328 matches compared to 158 matches within the existing contract.
League One and League Two will separately have 248 matches broadcast across the regular season, marking a huge improvement on their current deal, which covers just 20 matches across both divisions excluding the play-offs.
Every weekend of the season which contains league fixtures will therefore have ten EFL matches broadcast live, compromising of five matches from the Championship plus five matches across League One and Two.
EFL have also permitted broadcast of every opening, final day and midweek fixtures alongside games taking place on Bank Holiday; including the Easter double header plus Boxing Day and New Year’s Day alongside League One and Two games which take place during international breaks.
Sky will also retain their exclusivity on every play-off match across all three divisions, whilst every EFL Cup and EFL Trophy match will now be broadcast live as part of the new deal.
EFL Chief Executive, Trevor Birch described this contract as “a landmark broadcast deal for EFL clubs,” with Sky increasing their investment and coverage to ensure that clubs can be sustainable at all levels.
Birch proceeded to praise Sky for being “a fantastic broadcast partner for both the EFL and English football,” in-turn helping the sport grow and now adapt to a modern streaming world which will benefit EFL clubs, fans and the broadcaster in the fight against illegal streaming.
Sky Sports Managing Director, Jonathan Licht added that the deal is “ground-breaking” for Sky with hope that fans of EFL clubs can benefit from increased coverage.
Licht also iterated that Sky will make a new commitment alongside the EFL to ensure that clubs and fans have longer notice periods for fixtures selected for TV broadcast, in order to permit fans the ability to plan further ahead in terms of travel.
EFL though have decided to retain Article 48, forbidding matches from being broadcast between 2:45-5:15pm on Saturday afternoons, with Sky committing to not scheduling fixtures for TV coverage during the banned time window.
Sky and EFL officials will also seek to invest in production infrastructure with a minimum of eight cameras for every game broadcast across Sky Sports channels.
Commentary will be made available for matches selected for streaming with a minimum of four cameras at Championship and League One matches, whilst League Two matches will have two cameras at minimum.
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