Australian Open to remain on Nine until 2029 in deal worth more than $425 million

Nine Entertainment Co will broadcast The Australian Open and other local tournaments until 2029 under a multimillion-dollar extension of its deal with Tennis Australia.

The media giant confirmed reports in this masthead that it had signed a five-year deal, solidifying its position as the home of tennis in Australia. Nine originally secured the rights to the tennis in 2018, a deal that ended a 40-year relationship with rival Seven West Media.

Nine and Stan hold the broadcast rights to all four grand slams.Credit: AP

Nine said cash for the deal is an average of $85 million a year, but the deal also includes advertising credits, promotions and other services. This masthead wrote in October that Nine had offered an average of $85 million a year to extend the deal, but that it could end up higher given tennis’ ambition to secure a deal worth about $100 million a year.

The media giant did not disclose how many millions of dollars it would give Tennis Australia in contra – advertising dollars – and services per annum. Sources close to the deal, who spoke anonymously, said the ad dollar value was worth about $10 million a year. When taking this into account, the deal is worth substantially more than the cash component, which is worth about $425 million over the five years.

“Tennis attracts both a broad and very passionate following, and is a perfect fit with Nine’s schedule, audiences and advertisers,” Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby said. “The Australian Open has delivered some of Australia’s most iconic sporting moments and largest television audiences and together, we are committed to bringing these great moments to all Australians live and free.”

Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley said a long-term commitment from a domestic broadcast partner gave it the backing to continue to grow the Australian Open and the reach of the sport.

Having already secured the open’s future at Melbourne Park until at least 2039, Tiley said Tennis Australia was looking to expand the Australian tennis summer, with a focus on all capital cities.

“[The new deal] gives us then some assurances for the future but most importantly an opportunity to build a relationship to provide as much value as we can to every single person in Australia,” Tiley said. “There’s many out there that don’t get to consume tennis and we want to get them to consume it. There’s many out there who love it.

“It’s our job to put on great content and to launch the year. It will be the largest annual sporting event in Australia, the largest in the southern hemisphere and at that time of the year the largest in the world.”

Tennis Australia, with the ATP and WTA tours, will launch the summer with the new $23 million mixed-gender United Cup, played in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth and starting in late December. But TA has an eye on expanding summer beyond a six-week window.

“We will grow that footprint. We will have more events but I think ’23 is shaping up to potentially be our biggest and best year, certainly the ticket sales [we’re seeing that],” Tiley said. “It [the Australian season] is a six-week window as we see it and if we have our way, that will expand even further. We start after Christmas and we go to the beginning of February and with the summer of tennis in cities across Australia – [in] every capital city.”

“This event [the Australian Open] has gone from a two-week event to a three-week event.“We’ve been promoting it that way with the activities we have, and we’ll continue to announce some of the initiatives.“

The latest agreement between Nine and Tennis Australia is a significant increase on the deal between the companies in 2018 – about $125 million over the term of the deal – and substantially higher than Tennis Australia’s last deal with Seven in 2014, which was worth about $35 million annually. Nine owns television, radio and digital assets including streaming service Stan and The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

The deal solidifies Nine’s interest in tennis, which has expanded as its streaming service Stan grows its live sports coverage. Nine and its streaming service Stan have the broadcast rights to all four grand slams – the Australian Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and the French Open.

Sport is crucial for television networks, providing a key driver of ratings and a tool for acquiring subscribers.

The large increase in the cost of tennis rights comes just weeks after the AFL struck a historic agreement with Foxtel and Seven and is another clear sign that inflation in sports rights has returned. The cost was also driven up in recent weeks by attempts from Seven West Media to thwart the deal, who were vocal about securing the rights.

“As much as we love the tennis, at Seven our focus is always economics over ego,” Seven boss James Warburton said. “We wish Tennis Australia all the very best with its new agreement. On our calculations, with cash, contra, services and promotion it looks north of $100 million a year.”

TA wanted a new agreement sealed before network talks with Cricket Australia moved into advanced stages. The first round of bids for the rights to cricket matches were due last Friday. Media sources close to the deal, who spoke anonymously earlier this week, said Nine submitted an offer to air Test matches and the Big Bash League across its television network and Stan.

Cricket and tennis are not the only sports that are up for negotiation. International Olympics Committee officials will fly in to Australia this month, according to the sources, to commence a tender for the rights to the next three games, including the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

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