ELEVEN SPORTS Wins Belgian Pro League Rights, Requires Final Confirmation From Two Clubs
February 13, 2020
ELEVEN SPORTS have won the rights to broadcast Belgian domestic football for the next five years after winning the month-long process.
This is a transformative deal for both ELEVEN and the Belgian Pro League, as it is the first major league to sign a domestic deal with ELEVEN and will bring a great deal of money into the league, with the league’s CEO stating just last week that bids had “exceeded” a “symbolic bar”, supposed to be €100 million.
However, the deal is currently being held up by two teams within the Belgian Pro League, Antwerp and Gent.
The deal passed the first stage, winning a greater than two-thirds majority from the league after the final round of bidding.
But it has been held up from receiving complete confirmation, as the two protesting clubs are holding up the finalisation of the agreement, part of the second stage that sees each club within the league needing to accept the deal.
This is supposedly due to the large percentage of the rights that will be heading to the main five teams in Begium.
Eleven Sports are confident that the agreement that can be finalised soon with and are now in talks with both the league and the two clubs that are currently disputing the deal.
ELEVEN SPORTS said today: “We will sit down with the Pro League from today to discuss next steps and decide the best way forward to finalise our agreement. For the time being, we would like to thank the Pro League and clubs for the faith they have shown in our ambitious project for Belgian football.
Eleven Sports is committed to growing our offering around the world, to serve more fans with the sports they love in exciting and innovative ways. The opportunity to bring Belgian football to hundreds of thousands of dedicated local supporters will be an important milestone in that journey.”
Conversations will continue over the next couple of days as ELEVEN, the Belgian Pro League and the two club’s aim to find a solution.
