European Professional Club Rugby, the governing body for club rugby union in Europe, has launched a tender process for the international broadcast rights to its Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions.
The tender is for a four-year period, spanning the 2018-19 to 2021-22 seasons. The process will be managed by The Sports Consultancy agency, which has worked with EPCR on a wide range of commercial and strategic projects including the bidding and appointment processes for the 2018 and 2019 Finals host cities.
EPCR said “creative and innovative proposals” will be welcomed before the deadline of December 6 from global and regional agencies or pan-regional and national broadcasters. Rights have been split into two distinct packages – one of live matches and the other of highlights.
Owing to their strategic importance, individual bids will be accepted for rights in the USA, New Zealand, Canada and Japan.
EPCR said bids will be welcome for one or more of the following territories: global (excluding France, UK and Ireland, and USA); Europe (excluding France, UK and Ireland); Middle East and North Africa; pan-Africa; Asia-Pacific; Latin and South America; USA only; Japan only; New Zealand only and Canada only.
EPCR international rights are currently held by the IMG agency in a four-season deal, from 2014-15 to 2017-18. IMG’s deal covers rights to the top-tier Champions Cup, second-tier Challenge Cup, and Challenge Cup qualifying. The rights are global excluding the UK, Ireland and France.
EPCR director general, Vincent Gaillard, said: “The broad commercial experience and innovative approach of The Sports Consultancy gives us a great platform for a clear and transparent tender process with the subsequent appointment of a family of broadcast partners who can support our ambitions to grow the global audience of our competitions.”
A detailed overview of EPCR international media rights was published in the last edition of TV Sports Markets: see here.