The Swiss Football League, the operating body of the top two divisions of Swiss football, has agreed domestic and international broadcast rights deals, as well as a marketing rights agreement, in contracts the organisation said are worth almost 70 per cent more than the value of the current partnerships.
The announcement today (Thursday) comes after the SFL in April opened a tender process for rights to the Super League and Challenge League from the 2017-18 season onwards.
The CT Cinetrade rights purchasing subsidiary of telecommunications group Swisscom has formally sealed a four-season extension to its agreement for exclusive rights to the Super League and Challenge League. Confirmation of the deal comes after Swisscom chief executive, Urs Schaeppi, said in June that the company had sealed an extension of its deal with the SFL covering the 2017-18 to 2020-21 campaigns.
The SFL said Swisscom’s pay-television arm Teleclub will provide live coverage of all 180 matches per season from the Super League. It added that in the future public-service broadcaster SRG-SSR will broadcast a Sunday game from the Super League, with 36 of these broadcasts being provided across the season.
Meanwhile, the Lagardère Sports agency has also sealed a four-season extension to its contract to market the international rights to the two leagues. In addition, the InfrontRingier Sports & Entertainment agency will continue to market the SFL’s sponsorship rights across the 2017-18 to 2020-21 seasons.
This contract will include title sponsorship of the two leagues, advertising rights within stadia and branding on club shirts.
The SFL said the proceeds from the sale of the three packages of rights will amount to around CHF40m (€36.7m/$41.1m) per season, a rise of almost 70 per cent compared to the current value.