Six Nations and SANZAAR Pool Rugby's TV and Sponsorship Rights
Rugby union's northern and southern powers have agreed to sell their TV and commercial rights together for the first time, with the money shared between them. The Six Nations unions and SANZAAR, the body that runs the southern hemisphere's Rugby Championship, will pool their deals under a revenue-sharing model, The Guardian reports.
The arrangement runs in both directions. Southern hemisphere nations will get a share of the profits from the Six Nations and the British & Irish Lions tours. The Lions are a combined squad drawn from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales that travels abroad every four years. In return, European unions will benefit from the broadcast and sponsorship money generated by the Rugby Championship and the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series between New Zealand and South Africa.
A new rights management agency will run the sales. It will be set up by a 10-person board already created to run the Nations Championship, a newer international competition that began in 2026. RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said the agency will sit underneath the 10 founding unions of that competition: the six Six Nations unions, plus New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina.
Those founders already sell the Nations Championship's commercial and media rights collectively and share the revenue. Fiji and Japan, which also take part, receive smaller appearance fees, meaning flat payments for turning up.
The Home Nations unions of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have sold Six Nations rights jointly since 2019, through a scheme called Project Light. The new strategy extends that approach across the wider game.
The timing is staggered. Sponsorship and commercial deals are expected to be affected from 2028, when the Nations Championship holds its second edition. TV is different, because all Six Nations and SANZAAR broadcast rights are secured until 2029.
For viewers in the UK, the current picture is already set. ITV will be the exclusive free-to-air home of the Nations Championship for its first two editions, in 2026 and 2028. Free-to-air means shown on normal television without a subscription. S4C is showing all seven Wales matches in the competition's first year, with live coverage across July and November. Separately, BBC and ITV have a Six Nations deal running to 2029, with ITV broadcasting 10 games a year from the 2026 edition.
From the 2030 TV cycle, the Six Nations, the Rugby Championship and the Nations Championship will be sold together. Broadcasters will be offered a package covering all three, alongside bespoke packages for those who want something narrower.
