IRISH RUGBY FANS who have been watching URC games on RTÉ in recent years won’t be able to do that anymore from next season.
The new four-year TV rights cycle kicks in from the start of the 2025/26 campaign and the URC confirmed today that Irish supporters will continue to have free-to-air access to the league on TG4, which will broadcast a minimum of 26 games per season.
Meanwhile, subscription channel Premier Sports will show every single one of the 151 games in the URC each season.
Essentially, the games that have been on RTÉ in recent years will only be available on Premier Sports. So 21 games per season involving the Irish provinces will be exclusively shown on Premier, including six inter-pro derbies.
The changes also mean that, as things stand, the 2026 and 2028 URC finals won’t be available free-to-air. TG4 will broadcast the 2027 and 2029 deciders.
CEO Martin Anayi said the URC has enjoyed its “superb partnership” with RTÉ and praised the Irish broadcaster for drawing some “crazily good numbers” for big games involving the provinces, but he’s also excited about the future.
“For whatever reason, they’ve chosen to go in a different direction to what we wanted. The numbers that Premier Sports Ireland are doing on their Champions League, Premier League, and Champions Cup are really quite intriguing. They’re getting good numbers.”
Anayi also praised TG4 for their innovative coverage of the URC in a “brilliant partnership” that has existed for as long as the competition itself.
TV revenues are the key source of money in rugby. While the Irish contracts are signed for the next cycle, the URC still has deals to seal in its other territories of the UK, Italy, and South Africa.
Anayi acknowledges that TV revenues are crucial at a time when cost inflation, predominantly from player salaries, is such a challenge for everyone in the game.
In that light, he’s happy to estimate that the overall value of this new four-year TV cycle will match the last one.
“We will have retained our value in the marketplace and may be a little bit up,” said Anayi.
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Jack Conan and Jamison Gibson-Park are interviewed.
“We won’t be down and that’s important because that’s not necessarily true for other properties in the market. Some are going for less than before.”
Indeed, reports in the UK this season suggest that EPCR’s Champions Cup and Challenge Cup have fallen foul of that trend.
While Anayi said he can’t get into specific numbers, it has been estimated that the URC brings in between €60 million and €70 million in TV revenues per season.
The mammoth that is the French Top 14 is the biggest league in the world and brings in €136 million annually, but the URC are happy with their overall growth, which was massively accelerated by the addition of the four big South African teams in 2021.
Anayi said that the URC’s take on sponsorship is up, along with other revenue streams.
“Overall as a business, we’ll have grown over 30% from 2022 to 2026 and that’s really important,” he said.
More than half of the URC’s overall revenues come from South Africa, which is one of the biggest markets in rugby.
Despite the high unemployment and societal challenges the country faces, Anayi said the rugby sponsorship and media sectors in South Africa have held their value “incredibly well” because there are so many rugby fans in such a big country.
“Rugby drives revenue in South Africa for sponsors and broadcasters and so far, they’ve given us a very fair share of that.”
South African broadcaster SuperSport have brought plenty to the plate and Anayi said the URC is enjoying working with them.
Premier Sport have started to carry SuperSport’s commentary on their broadcasts of some games involving South African sides, with good results.
“You get the highest peak in those South African games when you’ve got Matt Pearce’s voice on it,” said Anayi.
“It’s the South African audience in London or England or wherever watching it and going, ‘It’s a piece of home, I’m hearing SuperSport.’ That’s quite powerful.”
URC CEO Martin Anayi. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
The URC were more “directive” with broadcasters in the last cycle, according to Anayi, pushing for uniformity in graphics and use of statistics, which the league provides through Oval Insights.
They plan to do more in the next cycle, bringing back in broadcast elements such as ref cam and player mic, which have proven popular in the past.
The URC is exploring the possibility of making life easier for TMOs too. At present, those match officials rely on the broadcasters to find and show them angles and replays of key moments, wheres the URC want TMOs to have full control over all of that.
The URC also wants to have the ref mic projected into stadiums for key decisions as much as possible, giving match-going fans as good an experience as possible.
Because that’s obviously another essential element of revenues in rugby – getting people through the gates.
Anayi said that having fewer games free-to-air may actually help in this mission.
“If we look at some of the positives where we’ve moved off free-to-air to paid in the past, we’ve seen a shift upwards in attendance,” said the URC CEO.
“That’s interesting because we need to get the balance right where you keep enough exposure on the league but also a rationale to get to the game itself.
“It’s important we get fans watching on TV but also going to games, buying a beer, a burger, and merchandise. That’s super important for the economy of rugby.”
The URC aim to help clubs by sharing more of their fan data, helping them to target supporters to return to games or lure new ones in.
Kick-off times suited to each club are another tool the URC can use to help, ensuring that those slots are best for drawing in local fans but also allowing teams to sell their corporate offerings.
And Anayi said that as the quality in the URC has undoubtedly grown since the South Africans came on board, the league needs to keep selling itself.
“The Jordie Barretts of the world help with that, so do Champions Cup and Challenge Cup results. It’s a proxy for how competitive we are with other leagues.
“It’s our job to keep on talking up the league and talking up the teams who play in the league.”
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'It’s important we get fans watching on TV but also going to games'
IRISH RUGBY FANS who have been watching URC games on RTÉ in recent years won’t be able to do that anymore from next season.
The new four-year TV rights cycle kicks in from the start of the 2025/26 campaign and the URC confirmed today that Irish supporters will continue to have free-to-air access to the league on TG4, which will broadcast a minimum of 26 games per season.
Meanwhile, subscription channel Premier Sports will show every single one of the 151 games in the URC each season.
Essentially, the games that have been on RTÉ in recent years will only be available on Premier Sports. So 21 games per season involving the Irish provinces will be exclusively shown on Premier, including six inter-pro derbies.
The changes also mean that, as things stand, the 2026 and 2028 URC finals won’t be available free-to-air. TG4 will broadcast the 2027 and 2029 deciders.
CEO Martin Anayi said the URC has enjoyed its “superb partnership” with RTÉ and praised the Irish broadcaster for drawing some “crazily good numbers” for big games involving the provinces, but he’s also excited about the future.
“For whatever reason, they’ve chosen to go in a different direction to what we wanted. The numbers that Premier Sports Ireland are doing on their Champions League, Premier League, and Champions Cup are really quite intriguing. They’re getting good numbers.”
Anayi also praised TG4 for their innovative coverage of the URC in a “brilliant partnership” that has existed for as long as the competition itself.
TV revenues are the key source of money in rugby. While the Irish contracts are signed for the next cycle, the URC still has deals to seal in its other territories of the UK, Italy, and South Africa.
Anayi acknowledges that TV revenues are crucial at a time when cost inflation, predominantly from player salaries, is such a challenge for everyone in the game.
In that light, he’s happy to estimate that the overall value of this new four-year TV cycle will match the last one.
“We will have retained our value in the marketplace and may be a little bit up,” said Anayi.
“We won’t be down and that’s important because that’s not necessarily true for other properties in the market. Some are going for less than before.”
Indeed, reports in the UK this season suggest that EPCR’s Champions Cup and Challenge Cup have fallen foul of that trend.
While Anayi said he can’t get into specific numbers, it has been estimated that the URC brings in between €60 million and €70 million in TV revenues per season.
The mammoth that is the French Top 14 is the biggest league in the world and brings in €136 million annually, but the URC are happy with their overall growth, which was massively accelerated by the addition of the four big South African teams in 2021.
Anayi said that the URC’s take on sponsorship is up, along with other revenue streams.
“Overall as a business, we’ll have grown over 30% from 2022 to 2026 and that’s really important,” he said.
More than half of the URC’s overall revenues come from South Africa, which is one of the biggest markets in rugby.
Despite the high unemployment and societal challenges the country faces, Anayi said the rugby sponsorship and media sectors in South Africa have held their value “incredibly well” because there are so many rugby fans in such a big country.
“Rugby drives revenue in South Africa for sponsors and broadcasters and so far, they’ve given us a very fair share of that.”
South African broadcaster SuperSport have brought plenty to the plate and Anayi said the URC is enjoying working with them.
Premier Sport have started to carry SuperSport’s commentary on their broadcasts of some games involving South African sides, with good results.
“You get the highest peak in those South African games when you’ve got Matt Pearce’s voice on it,” said Anayi.
“It’s the South African audience in London or England or wherever watching it and going, ‘It’s a piece of home, I’m hearing SuperSport.’ That’s quite powerful.”
The URC were more “directive” with broadcasters in the last cycle, according to Anayi, pushing for uniformity in graphics and use of statistics, which the league provides through Oval Insights.
They plan to do more in the next cycle, bringing back in broadcast elements such as ref cam and player mic, which have proven popular in the past.
The URC is exploring the possibility of making life easier for TMOs too. At present, those match officials rely on the broadcasters to find and show them angles and replays of key moments, wheres the URC want TMOs to have full control over all of that.
The URC also wants to have the ref mic projected into stadiums for key decisions as much as possible, giving match-going fans as good an experience as possible.
Because that’s obviously another essential element of revenues in rugby – getting people through the gates.
Anayi said that having fewer games free-to-air may actually help in this mission.
“If we look at some of the positives where we’ve moved off free-to-air to paid in the past, we’ve seen a shift upwards in attendance,” said the URC CEO.
“That’s interesting because we need to get the balance right where you keep enough exposure on the league but also a rationale to get to the game itself.
“It’s important we get fans watching on TV but also going to games, buying a beer, a burger, and merchandise. That’s super important for the economy of rugby.”
The URC aim to help clubs by sharing more of their fan data, helping them to target supporters to return to games or lure new ones in.
Kick-off times suited to each club are another tool the URC can use to help, ensuring that those slots are best for drawing in local fans but also allowing teams to sell their corporate offerings.
And Anayi said that as the quality in the URC has undoubtedly grown since the South Africans came on board, the league needs to keep selling itself.
“The Jordie Barretts of the world help with that, so do Champions Cup and Challenge Cup results. It’s a proxy for how competitive we are with other leagues.
“It’s our job to keep on talking up the league and talking up the teams who play in the league.”
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CEO Martin Anayi TV URC