Discovery’s sports division has signed its latest long-term sports rights deal. The Laver Cup will be broadcast exclusively on Discovery’s channels and streaming services in Europe until 2030.
In the UK, this means Eurosport and Discovery+ will have exclusive coverage of the annual event for the next decade. For 2021, coverage is on Eurosport 1, the Eurosport website and the Eurosport app.
The three day tournament was first launched in 2017 by TEAM8 – the Sports and Entertainment company co-founded by Roger Federer. It is named after 11-time Grand Slam champion Rod Laver. The tournament pits six of the top men’s tennis players from Europe against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world.
Long term deals
The announcement comes just days after Discovery signed a similar long-term agreement securing Australian Open coverage for the next decade. Discovery’s drive to sign long term deals intends to see off a threat from newcomers such as Amazon. Amazon has already denied Discovery full European rights for the US Open.
Andrew Georgiou, President of Sports, Discovery, said:
“We are pleased to build on our recent agreement to show the Australian Open for a further ten years by securing this decade-long deal to bring the Laver Cup to viewers across Europe. Discovery has a proven track record of unlocking the power of tennis through the best storytelling, deep sports expertise and world-class technology to produce and distribute coverage and content around the biggest tournaments to large and unmatched audiences. We look forward to working as a trusted partner to the Laver Cup to continue growing the reach of the tournament for all to enjoy.”
This year’s Laver Cup takes place from Friday 24th-Sunday 26th September in Boston USA. Coverage starts on the Friday at 6pm UK time. Team Europe are defending their title, won back in 2019. The pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 event. London will host the event in 2022.