Pay-television broadcaster Sky New Zealand has acquired rights for the country’s national football team games in a deal with the New Zealand Football governing body.
Under the deal, which starts immediately and will run for five months, Sky will show eight men’s and six women’s national team matches before the end of November.
New Zealand Football chief executive Grant McKavanagh told the Sunday Star-Times newspaper that the agreement would boost the governing body’s finances. The body had previously had to pay fees to broadcasters for its games to be shown, but Sky will pay a rights fee for the games under the new deal.
“I can't go into details, but the new deal with Sky puts us in a position where we feel there's respect on each side in terms of payment,” he said. “Now, it's turned around so that they pay us. Sky wants subscriptions and one-off games don't do that. We need to go to them with a package and are selling in six-month lots. Now they can advertise as the home of New Zealand football.”