LONDON: The Premier League, showing solidarity with Ukraine, has suspended its current (emphasis ours) broadcast deal with Russia’s state-owned Rambler Media (Okko Sport) with immediate effect.
The Premier League’s decision to cancel the deal was taken at a shareholders’ meeting in London on Tuesday, with all 20 clubs agreeing to the move. EPL chief executive Richard Masters had previously revealed that the league’s TV deals with Russian companies were under review.
This follows a weekend of EPL matches displaying League-wide support for Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine started on February 24 following a pre-dawn televised address by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
There’s a catch though. The suspension only applies to the currebt deal, which in any case ends at the end of the ongoing season. The media rights value for the current deal is some $5-6 million per season. The new six-year agreement (2022/23- 2027/28) that the EPL has signed for the Russian territory rights, which is a MUCH bigger deal and valued at around $60m (as per SportzPower’s understanding), has NOT been suspended.
The real proof of the EPL’s intentions will come if the new deal is jettisoned. And that is something that is NOT on the agenda. So…
Premier League statement in full
The Premier League and its clubs today unanimously agreed to suspend our agreement with Russian broadcast partner Rambler (Okko Sport) with immediate effect and to donate £1million to support the people of Ukraine.
The League strongly condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We call for peace and our thoughts are with all those impacted.
The £1million donation will be made to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to deliver humanitarian aid directly to those in need.
This action follows a weekend of matches displaying League-wide support for Ukraine.
All club captains wore special armbands and fans joined players, managers, match officials and club staff in a moment of reflection and solidarity before kick-off at each match.
Big screens displayed “Football Stands Together” against the backdrop of the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag. These words were also shown on LED perimeter boards during matches.
This message of solidarity was visible to fans around the world across Premier League digital channels and via match broadcasts.
This is in addition to the numerous ways in which clubs continue to display their support.
