In 2003, ESPN became the cable home for Wimbledon. Nearly 10 years later, ESPN became the exclusive U.S. home for the tournament. Nearly 10 years after that, ESPN and the All England Lawn Tennis Club must be happy with things because ESPN just announced a 12-year extension to their exclusive broadcasting deal.
In ESPN’s announcement, the new agreement will start in 2024 and end in 2035 but some aspects of the deal will take effect before that. For instance, starting with next year’s tournament, ABC will have live coverage of the middle weekend. That also includes matches being played that Sunday which has traditionally been a rest day.
ESPN+ coverage of Wimbledon will continue as all courts will have live streaming and will be the exclusive home for match replays. It’ll also be the place for qualifying rounds and AELTC produced content.
Internationally, ESPN’s rights have been extended among Canada (TSN and RDS), Latin America, and the Caribbean and they have added Brazil to the mix.
Wimbledon is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and comes at a time of the year where there is a lack of sports content. With two weeks worth of live sports that total 140+ hours of coverage, Wimbledon is something that ESPN is going to have for the foreseeable future.
