A tender for the French broadcast rights to the new European club rugby union competitions will be launched next month, according to Paul Goze, president of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which operates the domestic top-tier Top 14 competition.
Goze told the AFP news agency that a tender would be launched in France by European Professional Club Rugby, the body responsible for organising and managing the new competitions. The tender will be issued in mid-May with responses due in early June.
European rugby’s stakeholders last week agreed terms on three new cross-border competitions that will replace the existing Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup tournaments from the 2014-15 season.
The three new competitions will be called the European Rugby Champions Cup, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and the Qualifying Competition. The competitions have been formed under a minimum eight-year agreement.
Pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus and public-service broadcaster France Télévisions currently hold the rights to the top-tier Heineken Cup, with the second-tier Challenge Cup being broadcast by the Eurosport France national arm of the international sports broadcaster, as well as France Télévisions.
The L’Equipe newspaper said pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports is likely to bid for the rights to the new competitions.