Advanced Television

BT Sport extends Vanarama National League rights

December 22, 2020

BT Sport has renewed its exclusive rights to broadcast the Vanarama National League for a further three years, until the end of season 2023/24.

BT Sport has been broadcasting live and exclusive coverage of English football’s fifth tier since 2013. The new deal will see more matches broadcast live each week, in a regular Saturday slot.


BT Sport’s coverage, led by presenter Matt Smith, follows the regular season championship race plus the end-of-season play-offs through which one team gains a second promotion place into the English Football League.

Alongside the weekly live match coverage, the BT Sport team bring fans every goal from every National League match in the weekly Vanarama National League Highlights show.

Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “Over the past few years we’ve developed an innovative relationship with the league, including world-first 5G-enabled remote broadcasts and training local students who help create BT Sport’s National League highlights shows. The National League remain a valued partner to BT, particularly during the pandemic, in staging last season’s play-off matches and the 2020-21 season.”

Brian Barwick, chairman of the National League, added: “”We are delighted to continue our partnership with BT Sport. Their coverage of the Vanarama National League has been simply outstanding. Informed and comprehensive, our League has been broadcast in a highly polished and professional fashion. A lot of hard work over the last past seven years has produced some exceptional television. The new three-year contract will take us into over a decade of coverage by BT Sport. This speaks volumes for the confidence we have in how our matches have been brought to an established and growing audience”.

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