Russian Premier League approves new domestic rights contract

The Russian Premier League has formally approved a new three-season deal with pay-television broadcaster NTV Plus, which will be worth R1.98bn (€27.4m/$30.3m) for the ongoing 2015-16 season.

The deal covers the 2015-16 to 2017-18 seasons of the top division of Russian football and was initially announced in July. The 2015-16 campaign kicked off on July 17 without a formal contract in place, but with NTV Plus continuing to broadcast games.

Following a meeting of clubs on Tuesday, the Premier League said the deal has now been officially signed off with an official presentation set for the “near future”.

NTV Plus general director Alexander Vronsky told Russian news agency Tass that the contract will be worth R1.98bn for 2015-16.

It was reported in July that NTV Plus originally offered R2.2bn per season for the rights before later revising this offer to R1.9bn per season.