24th March 2016; The Euro Hockey League (EHL) has agreed a series of groundbreaking distribution deals for the KO16 and beyond to bring the world’s premier club hockey competition to an even wider audience than ever before.
This weekend sees 16 clubs from eight countries play 12 high octane matches across four days of action at the famous Wagener Stadium in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. As ever, the broadcast will be of the highest quality with a feed from seven HD cameras guaranteeing the sport is showcased in the best possible way.
Broadcasters from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, South Africa and Australia have all agreed to show matches from the tournament while EverSport will provide a streaming service to more territories than ever before.
EHL chairman Hans-Erik Tuijt said these deals are an exciting development for the competition and for hockey around the world.
“The EHL, as always, provides a unique and innovative platform for broadcasting the best club hockey to an even wider audience,” he said. “These agreements in Europe and beyond show the massive global interest in the competition.”
Specifically, the Netherlands’ largest free-to-air broadcaster NOS will broadcast at least two games live with potential for a third game dependent on Dutch participation with a full crew live on site.
This builds on the superb coverage NOS has produced in recent years at the European Championships and at the 2014 World Cup in the Hague.
Belgium’s Playsports will cover each match with a Belgian club involved from the KO16 right through to the FINAL4 in Barcelona. Playsports is the biggest pay-television platform in Belgium with 90% coverage in the country.
Their commitment to hockey is part of an ongoing campaign to follow the country’s bid for a first Olympic medal in a team sport with the progress of their clubs in the EHL a natural fit in that potential story.
In Germany, Sport1 will transmit the big showdown betweenRot-Weiss Köln and UHC Hamburg on Friday at 3pm (CET) on both their pay platform and through their online channel.
Esport3 will follow the fortunes of the Spanish representatives on their free to air channel with the showdown of Club Egara and Real Club de Polo de Barcelona on Saturday at 12.45pm (CET) a particular highlight of their schedule.
Outside of Europe, South Africa’s SuperSport will broadcast all of the games with a particular focus on games with players hailing from the country like AH&BC Amsterdam’s Justin Reid-Ross, Harvestehuder THC’s Nick Spooner and Racing Club de France’s Brynn Cleak.
Australia’s beIN Sports will also broadcast the games.
These agreements represent the first time the EHL has agreed contracts with broadcasters outside of Europe, showing the global appeal of watching the world’s best players representing their club and community in the world’s premier club competition.
The Euro Hockey League will continue to live stream every minute of every game, making the game available for viewers from outside the countries above to keep up to date with all the action.
Indeed, the EHL and EverSport have announced an exclusive one-year deal this week to expand the reach of the European League matches to many more regions internationally, such as the Americas and Asia, through the EverSport streaming platform, syndication network and via their smart embed player.
The games will be available to be streamed everywhere globally except for the UK, Belgium, Holland and Germany.
“We are excited to bring the EHL matches to new territories, such as the US, South and Central Americas and Asia, so fans around the world can watch this exciting sport,” said Wayne Sieve, CEO of EverSport.
EverSport is an innovative media company that provides a best-in-breed streaming platform proven to grow rights holders’ audience and revenues more effectively than any other platform by harnessing the power of syndication, marketing and social media.