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Six Nations and Sanzaar agree broadcast rights deal to sell collectively

The new revenue-sharing model will touch sponsorship and commercial deals from 2028, but TV rights sales will not change until 2030.

By RuckBee Newsroom1 min read
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The northern and southern hemisphere unions have agreed to pool their commercial muscle: the Six Nations and Sanzaar will sell all their media rights and commercial deals together for the first time, under a new revenue-sharing model.

Under the arrangement, southern hemisphere nations will share in profits from the Six Nations and the British & Irish Lions tours. European nations, in turn, will benefit from deals generated by the Rugby Championship and the New Zealand–South Africa Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series.

A new rights management agency will run the sales process. It will be set up by the 10-person board created to run the Nations Championship. Bill Sweeney described the structure: "In effect, we are creating a commercial rights agency which sits underneath the 10 Nations Championship founding unions".

Who is involved

The ten founding unions are England, Ireland, France, Wales, Scotland, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. Fiji and Japan receive much smaller appearance fees from the Nations Championship.

When it takes effect

The changes are expected to affect sponsorship and commercial deals from 2028. TV rights sales will not be affected until 2030, because broadcast rights are secured until 2029. Sweeney said: "We’re in uncharted waters".

Sources

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