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5 hours ago
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Sky Sports will hold talks with the Women’s Super League about broadcasting up to 50 extra matches each season from the 2026-27 campaign onwards.
Under the terms of the WSL expansion to 14 clubs approved yesterday, the fixture list will grow to 182 games from 2026 and Sky wants to add them to its ever-growing football portfolio. Under the terms of a new five-year deal which begins this summer, Sky has live rights for 118 of the 132 WSL games in a 12-club competition with BBC having exclusive rights to 14 matches and the broadcasters committing to joint coverage of seven fixtures.
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Related: How WSL’s expansion to 14 teams will reshape the women’s football pyramid | Suzanne Wrack
With the WSL clubs agreeing to promote two additional sides from the Championship, the fixture list will grow significantly and the Guardian has learned Sky is standing by the principle that every match should continue to be televised.
Sky is understood to be contributing around £60m of the record £65m joint-deal with the BBC, with its total investment in the women’s game well over £100m when production and promotional costs are included. Detailed negotiations with the WSL regarding the extra fixtures have yet to take place and it is unclear whether Sky will be asked to pay an additional rights fee for them, although it would be expected to cover production costs.
As the contracts have been signed for a 132-game season, the WSL could theoretically put the rights for the extra games out to tender, although given their close relationship with Sky it is unlikely to do so.
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Sky is offering more football to their subscribers every year, with its live Premier League schedule increasing from 128 to 215 games next season, on top of 1,059 matches from the English Football League and Carabao Cup.
Industry insiders predict Sky will lobby for every Premier League game to be made available for live broadcast in the next TV rights cycle from 2029 onwards, a dramatic change that would require Uefa to lift the 3pm Saturday blackout stipulated in Article 48 of their constitution.
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