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Huge new Top 14 TV rights deal worth €97 million per season

The French clubs are going to be even wealthier from 2019 onwards.

THE LIGUE NATIONALE de Rugby [LNR] has announced that it has agreed a new four-year deal with Canal+ for the TV rights to screen the Top 14 exclusively live from the 2019/20 season until the 2022/23 season.

The new €388 million contract is worth €97 million per season to the Top 14 clubs.

France Top14 Final Rugby Stade Français won the Top 14 last season. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

The current deal between Canal+ and the LNR, which extends until the end of the 2018/19 campaign, is worth an average of €71 million per season, meaning a jump of €26 million per season from 2019 onwards.

As recently as the 2013/14 season, the Top 14 TV rights were worth €31.7 million per season, but the league’s popularity in France has seen that figure explode.

The Qatari-owned BeIn Sport has also expressed interest in buying the Top 14 TV rights in recent times, ensuring that Canal+ must pay an increasingly premium price to continue broadcasting the French league.

The latest growth of the TV rights deal will ensure that French clubs are even more wealthy than at present, an ominous prospect for the Irish provinces.

“This new partnership, with the league’s historic broadcaster, will strengthen the audiovisual exposure and economic development of the Top 14,” reads an LNR statement.

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