Infront picks up SPFL international rights contract

The Scottish Professional Football League has sold its international media rights to the Infront agency following the collapse of its previous deal with rival agency MP & Silva.

In June 2013, the league agreed a nine-season deal with MP & Silva for its international rights excluding the European Economic Area. The deal was slated to run from 2014-15 to 2022-23.

TV Sports Markets understands the Infront deal will run for two seasons, 2018-19 and 2019-20, meaning it will end at the same time as the league’s domestic live rights deals with pay-television broadcasters Sky and BT Sport.

The Infront deal will cover the top four Scottish leagues (the Premiership, the Championship, League One and League Two) and its two cup competitions: the Challenge Cup and the League Cup, known as the Irn-Bru Cup and the Betfred Cup respective following sponsorship deals.

In a statement SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “They [Infront] emerged from a number of different companies each of which were keen to represent us overseas. We will be working with Infront over the coming weeks to agree deals in those territories where SPFL football is not currently shown.”

Last month, TV Sports Markets exclusively reported that MP & Silva had defaulted on payments to multiple sports rights-holders and was in a state of paralysis. Since then, several rights-holders have reclaimed their rights from the agency, including: England’s Premier League, Spain’s LaLigathe SPFLthe International Handball Federation and Premier League club Arsenal.