Poland’s football league floats new rights tender

Ekstraklasa, the premier football league of Poland, has floated a new tender for audiovisual bookmakers’ rights for the next two seasons.

Since 1995, the rights have been undertaken jointly with the DTH platform nc+, the main TV broadcaster of Ekstraklasa. This is the first time licensed bookmakers operating on the Polish market will be invited to submit bids. Contracts will be finalised by April 30 this year. Commenting on the development, Marcin Animucki, chairman of the board at Ekstraklasa, said: “after the success of contracts for the rights to domestic television broadcasts, we are beginning to sell smaller packages. This is very important for us due to the additional funds that will be provided to clubs and the role of promoting games among fans. This year, for the first time ever, we want to offer rights to bookmakers operating in Poland. We have already had a series of meetings with their representatives and as a result of discussions with nc+ have developed packages to show Ekstraklasa games on bookmaker platforms”.

As part of the tender procedure, bookmakers will be offered two packages. The first will allow the purchase of rights to broadcast 296 Ekstraklasa football matches exclusively and as a result showing Ekstraklasa matches for a limited period on the online bookmaker platform where bets are accepted. The second, alternative package will allow up to four licensed companies accepting bets to purchase such rights without exclusivity.