An extra 60 Premier League matches are expected to be made available for broadcasters as they look to maximise potential revenues.
Under the current agreement, 200 of the 380 Premier League matches are broadcast on UK television, with Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon sharing the rights.
The current broadcast deal – which is set to expire in 2025 – is worth around £5 billion, and the Telegraph report that the Premier League will ‘shake up’ the tender process for the next round of rights.
They say that potential bidders are expecting a ‘significant’ number of extra games to be made available, with an additional 60 games potentially being available for broadcast, meaning 68% of the entire season.
They say that the current seven available broadcast ‘packs’ could be trimmed to four in a bid to maximise revenues, with each package set to be ‘meatier’ than at present.
The tender document is still a ‘work in progress’, though the Premier League are committed to retaining the 3pm TV blackout that is currently in place, despite the EFL looking to bring it to an end.
The report points to how the Premier League’s domestic revenues have largely ‘plateaued’ since 2018, although their overseas broadcast packages have increased in valuation to over £5bn.
Sky Sports currently have four of the seven packages, equating to 128 games, while BT Sport – soon to be rebranded TNT sports – have two packs, giving them the rights to every 12:30pm Saturday kickoff and some midweek fixtures. Amazon have the final pack, giving them the rights to two full bank holiday set of fixtures.
All are expected to continue to be major bidders, while DAZN and Facebook could try to get in on the action.
