Six Nations and Sanzaar to jointly sell global broadcast and commercial rights under new agency
The Six Nations and Sanzaar unions have agreed to sell all their media rights and commercial deals collectively for the first time, in an arrangement announced on 4 November 2026 that introduces a revenue-sharing model across northern and southern hemisphere unions.
The deal is described as the first of its kind in sport and will see southern hemisphere nations receive a share of profits generated by the Six Nations and British & Irish Lions tours while European countries will benefit from broadcast and sponsorship deals generated by the Rugby Championship and the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series between New Zealand and South Africa. The sales process will be managed by a new rights management agency to be established by a 10-person board created to run the Nations Championship, which resumes this weekend.
Commercial and media rights for the Nations Championship are already sold collectively and the revenue from that competition is shared among the 10 founding members: the Six Nations plus New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina. Fiji and Japan are involved on substantially smaller appearance fees under the existing arrangement.
The 10 unions moved to pool rights for international rugby outside the World Cup with the stated aim of achieving growth amid a difficult media market. Organisers present the strategy as a global extension of Project Light, the initiative through which the four Home Nations have collectively sold Six Nations rights since 2019.
Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney set out the commercial intent behind the new body, saying: "In effect, we are creating a commercial rights agency which sits underneath the 10 Nations Championship founding unions." He added: "We think that will result in a much better and more efficient approach to the market, obviously with the intention of increasing overall valuations and growing the commercial side of the game."
The new arrangements are expected to affect sponsorship and commercial deals from 2028, coinciding with the second edition of the Nations Championship, but will not change television rights sales until later because all Six Nations and Sanzaar broadcast rights are secured until 2029. The next TV rights cycle, beginning in 2030, will see the Six Nations, Rugby Championship and Nations Championship offered for sale together, with broadcasters able to bid for bundled packages or bespoke rights aimed at encouraging competition.
The Nations Championship resumes this weekend, and the joint commercial framework will begin to be administered by the agency and 10-person board as outlined in the agreement.