US broadcaster NBC Sports Group has signed a ‘long-term’ media rights agreement with the IAAF Diamond League.
The new deal, which runs until 2019, includes exclusive TV and digital streaming rights to the elite track and field series, and will see NBC provide a total of 58 hours of Diamond League coverage this season.
Ten hours of coverage will be carried by NBC’s flagship TV channel, while multiple simulcasts will be provided by the network’s website and mobile app. The programming will form part of NBC’s Olympic Channel offering, which was recently launched under a partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).
NBC’s coverage will begin on Friday 5th May, when the 2017 Diamond League season gets underway in Doha, Qatar.
Financial terms of the deal, brokered by IMG, have not been released.
“No Olympic sport so readily conveys the motto of ‘faster, higher, stronger’ like track and field,” said Jim Bell, the president of NBC Olympics Production and Programming. “We are thrilled to be able to showcase so many of its finest athletes outside of the Games with this prestigious series.”
The Diamond League, which attracts many of the world’s top track and field athletes, features 14 stops this year, with the series culminating in Brussels in September.