NBC to broadcast Aviva Premiership in USA

NBC Sports Network has signed an historic three-year deal with the Aviva Premiership to broadcast the top English professional league’s matches on a regular basis in the USA. They will also broadcast live the first ever Premiership match to be played on American soil when Saracens meet London Irish at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey on Saturday.

The deal formally begins at the start of the 2016-17 Aviva Premiership season and will include a weekly selection for 24 weeks, and ‘up to 50’ additional matches to be shown over the course of the season on the NBC Sports Live Extra, the network’s broadband streaming service. NBC Sports Network has an audience of more an 83 million in the United States, and has shown its support of rugby on numerous occasions, most recently by broadcasting the Las Vegas 7s this past weekend.

Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive at Premiership Rugby, expressed his delight in a statement.

“This new agreement with NBC Sports Group is an historic milestone for us. It takes the Aviva Premiership Rugby brand to a bigger audience than we have ever had in the US.

“NBC Sports Group’s reputation precedes itself as the established US television home of the Olympics, the home of Sunday Night Football, the No. 1 show in prime time in the US, and the US home of the Premier League. In signing this deal, NBC Sports Group has bought into the on-field drama of rugby union and plans to work with us to deliver the compelling stories and personalities of English club rugby to the widest possible audience.

“As USA Rugby announced recently, rugby union is the fastest-growing sport in America and we are confident that Aviva Premiership Rugby will soon find a big audience in the United States. We have already seen Harlequins play a match in America and this week London Irish and Saracens will make history by playing the first Aviva Premiership Rugby match in the US. This exposure on NBCSN is great news for all 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the profile of English rugby.”

Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC Sports, also celebrated the historic agreement.

“Our multi-year partnership with Aviva Premiership Rugby is an expansion of our well-documented commitment to the sport and growth of rugby in the US. Aviva Premiership Rugby is another cornerstone within our growing and unprecedented rugby portfolio and our unparalleled collection of international sports properties, which includes the Premier League, the Open Championship, Formula One, French Open, and Tour de France.”