Leading Superligaen club Brondby has confirmed it will join the other 11 teams of the top division of Danish football in a six-year collective broadcast rights deal for the league.
Brondby in February announced that it would exit the Superligaen’s collective broadcast rights agreement when the current deal expires in July 2015. The Copenhagen club’s announcement came after it failed to reach an understanding on the approach to the Superligaen’s next set of broadcast rights. Brondby had argued that the current system of broadcast revenue distribution did not reward those clubs who provided the highest ratings for game broadcasts.
However, the club has now confirmed that it has reached an agreement to be included in a collective deal. This will allow a tender to be issued covering the six-year period spanning the 2015-16 to 2020-21 seasons. It will include rights for the second tier Ligaen and the DBU Pokalen cup competition.
Brondby chief executive Jan Bech Andersen said: “The new board chooses to seek dialogue and fellowship. It is important for Danish football – and thus also for Brondby – that clubs work closely together.”
He added: “A person who never made a mistake has never tried anything new. We tried to challenge the model that was put forth, but we failed to penetrate with our message that the agreement of six years is too long, and the weighting of Brondby's value was not reasonable.”
Superligaen director Claus Thomsen welcomed the development, stating it will now allow the tender to proceed. “At the same time, we look forward with great anticipation to future strategic development and cooperation regarding our media rights,” he said.