Leading sports marketing agency, IMG, has successfully renewed its agreement with the rapidly expanding Saudi Pro League (SPL), thereby retaining the worldwide media rights for another four years. This new deal extends their original agreement which covered the 2023-24 and 2024-25 SPL seasons.
Under this renewed contract, IMG will continue to market and sell the league’s rights globally through the 2028-29 campaign. Since taking over distribution of SPL's rights, international coverage has seen significant growth. Last season's matches were aired in more than 184 countries on over 43 global platforms across six continents. In comparison, during the 2023-24 season, Saudi Pro League games were covered in only about 160 countries on more than just forty platforms.
IMG's recent successful deals include partnerships with ESPN (Africa), DAZN (DACH and France), Movistar (Spain), Fox Sports (USA, Mexico, LATAM, Caribbean & Central America), Globo (Brazil), Sportitalia & ComoTV (Italy) and French content creator Zack Nani. Additionally last week SporTV - a Brazilian pay-television operator owned by commercial broadcasting giant Globo - acquired broadcast rights to the SPL ahead of today’s start of the new campaign.
Roland Nikolaou, IMG vice president of football, MENA, said:
“The Saudi Pro League has grown rapidly in recent years and continues to push the boundaries for football in the region. Through our work together across media rights distribution, as well as production and storytelling, the league has significantly enhanced its reach and global appeal.”
Deepening relationship between IMG and SPL
The renewal further strengthens IMG’s relationship with SPL as it also secured a five-year production deal covering top-tier Saudi competitions such as King’s Cup and Saudi Super Cup knockout competitions last year.
This deal sees both parties collaborating closely; while The Saudi Arabian Football Federation along with SPL act as host broadcasters for King's Cup & Super Cup through till '28-'29 season; they are assisted by IMG in implementing remote production technologies enabling producers to oversee matches across different cities on the same day. This agreement also adds to IMG's growing portfolio of major soccer clients for whom it sells international rights. This includes the Arabian Gulf Cup (AGCFF), South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), Eredivisie, and Football Australia.
IMG also serves as TV production partner for England's EFL, organizer of the country’s second, third, and fourth-tier competitions in a deal running through 2028-29. Furthermore, it produces content for some of the world’s biggest leagues including Premier League, Major League Soccer and CBS’s UEFA Champions League & Europa League coverage.
