ITV launches £80m bid for rugby’s Nations Championship
Rugby union’s inaugural Nations Championship looks set to be shown on free-to-air television after ITV bid more than £80m.
If successful, every Six Nations match and Nations Championship fixture will be terrestrial TV in the UK until at least 2029.
The broadcaster has been in competition with TNT Sports, the early favourites to land the new competition, but it appears ITV may have come on top in a deal that covers the first two editions of the tournament.
The Nations Championship will replace the summer international tours and Quilter Nations Series from next autumn with a 12-team competition followed by a finals weekend – the first of which will be held in London.
ITV currently has rights to England matches during the Six Nations as part of a £63m joint deal with the BBC for the biggest annual international rugby competition.
England’s three July fixtures will see them take on the world champion Springboks in South Africa before a second game in the Rainbow Nation against Fiji.
ITV bid
The three-week tour will conclude with a match against Argentina before matches at Allianz Stadium against Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
Deals with free-to-air broadcasters in both Ireland and France are set to expand the terrestrial coverage of the competition, which has been in the planning for a number of years.
And it will be a blow to TNT Sports, which added the Quilter Nations Series to its rugby portfolio at the expense of the Investec Champions Cup.
Six Nations chief Tom Harrison described the competition as a “tectonic shift in the sport” at the launch of the Nations Championship.
“The world’s biggest and best Championships are defined by intense sporting drama, and the Nations Championship will stand alongside these,” he added. “The Finals Weekend will add a totally new dimension for fans, and promises to create an incredible spectacle, crown Champions, and act as a catalyst to grow rugby’s reach, globally.”