UK free-to-air broadcaster ITV has reportedly snapped up the rights to the 2027 men’s Rugby World Cup, in a new agreement that will bolster the network’s burgeoning international rugby portfolio.
Through the deal, ITV will retain the exclusive UK rights to the elite quadrennial tournament, with UK publication The Guardian claiming that it fended off interest from public-service broadcaster the BBC, which was said to be spurred on by strong viewership for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup but was ultimately unsuccessful.
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ITV has held the rights to the men’s Rugby World Cup successively since 1991, and is the tournament’s most lucrative broadcast partner.
The report suggests that this deal only covers the 2027 edition, an interesting caveat, as in the past, ITV has typically acquired rights to two tournaments at a time.
That, combined with the fact that a deal has not been agreed until 15 months out from the tournament, suggests that there may have been difficulties in the negotiations, perhaps driven by ITV’s desire to maintain exclusivity rather than splitting the rights with the BBC, as it does for the soccer World Cups.
Perhaps, World Rugby believes that the marquee nature of the 2031 tournament in the US can help it attract an even greater rights fee in the UK following the 2027 event.
Alternatively, the changing face of the UK media landscape and the weak economy could have made ITV bid too far in advance, especially given that the broadcaster is currently in talks for a takeover by pay-TV giant Sky.
Either way, this rights capture ensures that ITV will continue to dominate the international rugby broadcast landscape in the UK, particularly as far as the England national team is concerned.
The commercial broadcaster has already snapped up the rights to the first two editions of the new Nations Championship tournament in 2026 and 2028 on an £80 million ($106.3 million) deal, and renewed its rights to the annual Six Nations tournament through 2029 (including every England game exclusively on ITV).
This means that, through 2029, ITV will exclusively broadcast every England men’s national team fixture until at least early 2029.
For World Rugby, this agreement serves to round out its coverage plans for the 2027 World Cup, which will be held in Australia, running from October 1 to November 13.
The domestic broadcaster once again will be Australia’s Channel 9, while Canal+ owned SuperSport will hold the rights in the market of reigning champions South Africa in a deal agreed at the beginning of June.
In terms of other lucrative markets, France’s commercial broadcaster TF1 will showcase the tournament as the country will once again be one of the favorites to win the coveted trophy.
Crucially for World Rugby, a deal was also struck last year in the US market, allowing CBS to broadcast the marquee event.
That is of particular focus as the US, despite not being a particularly strong rugby nation, is of course the world’s most lucrative media market, and will host the Rugby World Cup in 2031.
