Decentralisation of Media Rights in Football

These deals have included:

• The Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) granting both Gary Neville’s podcast series The Overlap and Mark Goldbridge’s YouTube channel That’s Football the rights to broadcast 20 Bundesliga matches live in the UK and Ireland during the 2025/26 season.
• The Rest is Football entering into a three-year agreement with La Liga to broadcast official highlights and clips in the UK and Ireland, alongside podcast-style analysis led by Gary Lineker and Alex Aljoe. This follows a separate collaboration between The Rest is Football and DAZN during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, which enabled the podcast series to show licensed match highlights throughout the tournament on its YouTube channel.

Why is this happening?

Several structural and commercial factors are driving the decentralisation of football media rights:

1. Audience fragmentation: Younger fans increasingly consume football through highlights, social media clips and interactive streams rather than sitting through 90-minute broadcasts.
2. Direct-to-fan engagement: Independent content creators have built highly loyal fan communities, often more engaged than the casual TV audience. Goldbridge’s first stream of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season attracted over half a million live viewers, with Goldbridge providing real-time commentary of the match and engaging with fans throughout in the live chat.
3. Revenue diversification: Leagues are experimenting with alternative rights packages which monetise smaller but often more committed audiences and can sit alongside (rather than directly compete with) the bigger broadcast deals.
4. Technology advances: Platforms like YouTube make it easier than ever for fans and independent creators to host and distribute large-scale sports content without relying on traditional broadcasting infrastructure.

Will it continue?

In short - yes. Clubs and leagues are recognising that traditional broadcast revenues, while still dominant, are flattening. Fan shows and podcasts offer new distribution channels which can exist in parallel to these mainstream broadcast deals, helping to protect against any downturns in revenues received through the international media markets.

How can creators protect their rights?

To protect and grow their unique platforms, independent creators should make sure to carefully consider the commercial and legal risks of entering into any content distribution deal with a major rightsholder. Key contractual factors to take into account include:

1. Clarity of licence terms
   • Scope: Will the media rights received cover live matches, highlights, or clips only?
   • Territory: Should you look to secure a worldwide licence, or limit the licence (and pay less) to show the content in a defined territory?
   • Platforms: Can content be shown across multiple channels (e.g. YouTube, podcasts and TikTok) or is it limited to one platform?
2. Exclusivity
   • Creators should watch out for exclusivity clauses which might prevent future collaboration with other leagues, clubs or sponsors.
3. Revenue models
   • Some deals will be flat-fee licences, others revenue-share. Creators should make sure that the legal terms included in the deal documents reflect the agreed commercial position on how money from the partnership will be distributed.
4. Content integrity and compliance
   • Rightsholders may impose rules on how content is broadcast, including commentary standards, use of footage, or integration of betting partners. Creators should look to maintain full editorial independence where possible, so that they can continue to deliver original content in a way which aligns with the expectations of their audience.
5. Tender process
   • Creators should familiarise themselves with the tender processes carried out by major football rightsholders to ensure they submit bids on time and satisfy all relevant legal and commercial requirements.
   • One potential development to monitor is whether rightsholders begin to introduce separate tender windows for alternative content platforms, running in parallel with (but distinct from) the tenders for main broadcasting rights.
6. IP protection
   • Creators should ensure they retain ownership of their own brand and that the media rights agreement prepared for the deal clearly separates league-licensed content from the creator’s own original material.

Conclusion

The deals involving The Rest is Football, Mark Goldbridge, and The Overlap highlight that football broadcasting is no longer an exclusive domain for the traditional (and previously dominant) broadcasting giants.

For creators, careful negotiation of legal rights will be essential to ensure that such opportunities enhance the offering of their unique platforms, rather than potentially compromise the authenticity which attracted such loyal audiences in the first place.