SM-Liiga, the top division of ice hockey in Finland, has appointed the Commercial Sports Media agency to aid its upcoming media rights sales process.
The Swedish-based company will advise the league in striking its new deal, which is set to commence with the 2018-19 season and includes more than 500 matches per year.
The Liiga consists of 15 professional clubs and is considered to be one of the best leagues in the world. Commercial Sports Media has been chosen as the exclusive advisor of the Liiga following its role in the tender process conducted by the Swedish Hockey League earlier this year.
Through that process, Swedish pay-television broadcaster C More acquired rights for the six SHL seasons running from 2018-19 to 2023-24. The contract is the longest in the history of the SHL.
“We are very pleased that our work with SHL has been recognised in the Nordic market place for sport media rights,” Jonas Persson, chief executive of Commercial Sports Media, said. “There are many similarities between SHL and Liiga. The leagues are the two dominating properties in their respective domestic markets and they carry a strategic value.
“The customer prospects base are tangible thanks to the geography of many of the media players in the Nordic market. Hence, we are already up to speed with the market situation.”
Commercial and pay-television broadcaster Nelonen is the Liiga’s current rights-holder under an exclusive five-season domestic rights deal running from 2013-14 to 2017-18 which was struck in June 2012.