- Times Internet, owner of Willow, to pay in the region of $30m in total from 2024-27
- Rights fee for all ICC events thought to be slight uplift on current four-year deal
- ICC understood to have seen ESPN as desirable broadcaster, even exploring co-exclusive option
The International Cricket Council sealed a new deal in the US and Canada with Times Internet Limited, owner of cricket-dedicated broadcaster Willow, despite being minded, at first, to agree a deal with ESPN.
SportBusiness Media understands that Times Internet will pay around $30m (€27.42m) in total for exclusive rights in the US and Canada to all ICC events from 2024 to the end of 2027.
Sources say this represents a small uplift on Times Internet’s current deal, covering 2020 to 2023, which concludes with the Men’s World Cup in October and November this year. That deal was struck with media group Disney Star, which in the current cycle pays about $2bn for global rights to ICC properties over eight years, from 2016 to 2023.
Willow has broadcast ICC events since 2016. Prior to that, from 2012 to 2015, pay-television broadcaster ESPN held ICC rights in North America.
Sources told SportBusiness Media that the ICC was initially very open to agreeing a new deal with ESPN. This was in order to ensure wide exposure for its properties during a phase of cricket expansion in the US, including a T20 World Cup co-hosted by the country.
It is thought that the ICC would have accepted a lower fee from Disney-owned ESPN in order to get a deal over the line, but ultimately ESPN’s offer was too far below the proposition from Willow. The ICC is said to have also suggested a non-exclusive arrangement to both ESPN and Willow, but this was vetoed by the latter.
In terms of ensuring broad exposure, the ICC has stated that Willow TV is accessible in over 70 million households. Willow will exploit its rights on its linear channel and digital platform, willow.tv. Times Internet will also use its TOI.com and Cricbuzz news websites to show digital clips in the territory.
Willow is also showing the Indian Premier League in the US and Canada, having secured the rights in the territory from 2023 to 2027 in an e-auction last year.
SportBusiness Media understands the ICC has secured agreements for the same period, 2024 to the end of 2027, in Australia and the Caribbean as well, subject to final contracting. The ICC will subsequently seek deals in subcontinental territories outside of India, notably Pakistan and Bangladesh. In other territories, such as South-East Asia, the ICC is likely to use its streaming platform, ICC.tv, to exploit its rights.
Process
In September, the ICC issued a tender for a number of territories, including the US and Canada. By contrast, in less dynamic markets for cricket rights such as the UK and sub-Saharan Africa, the ICC concluded eight-year deals after direct talks, with Sky Sports and SuperSport, respectively.
Experts told SportBusiness Media that the ICC will expect greater competition – and an uplift on its new few – for its rights from 2028 to 2031. For now, a four-year deal made sense. The vast majority of the value of the deal is in the US, with Canada understood to make up around five per cent of the value.
ESPN
Sources told SportBusiness Media that the ICC was initially well-disposed towards doing a deal with ESPN. This was mainly in order to broaden its reach for the Men’s T20 World Cup in 2024, which will be held in the US, along with the West Indies.
Previously, the ICC had identified the US as a “growth market” and the T20 World Cup next year will be the first time the US has hosted a major cricket event. The ICC released a tender as it believed that heightened interest in cricket in the territory would lead to healthy competition for its rights, capitalising in particular on the strong interest in the game from diaspora from the Indian subcontinent.
On the launch of the tender in North America, ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said: “The USA is one of the ICC’s targeted growth markets and, with 30 million cricket fans already enjoying the sport there, a World Cup scheduled to be co-hosted in that country in 2024 and our exciting ambition for inclusion in the 2028 Olympic Games, there couldn’t be a better time for cricket to find a broadcast partner to help grow the game across the region.”
Furthermore, this year the US-based Major League Cricket will hold its inaugural season, beginning on July 13.
Nevertheless, Disney does not currently see a long-term strategic play for cricket in the region. This, combined with its circumspection in terms of sports rights outlay that it does not believe will guarantee a strong return, is thought to have limited its willingness to bid big for the ICC rights, at least for the forthcoming cycle.
When ESPN had rights prior to Willow, the most important piece of inventory in that deal was the 2015 World Cup, for which ESPN also offered a standalone subscription for the tournament, costing $99.99 for all 49 matches. ESPN agreed deals with the DISH Network, Mediacom and Time Warner Cable to widely distribute the subscription offer. Sources say Disney might have number-crunched similarly for the ICC rights for 2024-27, but that it concluded that the potential upsides were not enticing enough to justify a significant bid this time.
Inventory
The new agreement covers 14 international events across men’s, women’s and U19 competitions.
Men’s events:
- ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 (West Indies & USA)
- ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (Pakistan)
- ICC World Test Championship Final 2025 (England)
- ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (India & Sri Lanka)
- ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027 (South Africa, Zimbabwe & Namibia)
- ICC World Test Championship Final 2027 (Host TBC)
Women’s events:
- ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 (Bangladesh)
- ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 (India)
- ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 (England)
- ICC Women’s T20 Champions Trophy 2027 (Sri Lanka)
Under-19 events:
- ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024 (Sri Lanka)
- ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025 (Malaysia & Thailand)
- ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2026 (Zimbabwe & Namibia)
- ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2027 (Bangladesh & Nepal)