The BBC has been the home of Wimbledon for more than 90 years now. As per various reports, they pay around £60 million each year to broadcast Wimbledon, with claims they’ll have to pay more to secure an extension. Talking about extensions, The AELTC signed an extension with the BBC in 2021. Reflecting a bit on the extension, Mick Desmond, AELTC Commercial & Media Director, had then claimed, “The BBC is as synonymous with Wimbledon as strawberries and cream.” While Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, said, “Wimbledon has a special place in the hearts of the nation and with this extension we can continue our longstanding and valued partnership with the All England Club.” However, as per the latest news, the BBC is perhaps now at risk of losing rights to Wimbledon.
Their contracts end in 2027, but according to the latest rumors, two major broadcasters are now already eyeing to seal a deal with this historic tennis tournament for the 2028-2030 seasons. This off-court tussle will indeed drive up costs significantly for the BBC to retain its rights. But who are their competitors? TNT Sports has emerged as the primary challenge to its dominance. The Warner Bros Discovery group will have already secured rights to show this year’s men’s and women’s singles final alongside the BBC after acquiring Eurosport.
The tennis world has previously seen them demonstrating their deep commitment to tennis by securing an extension of the French Open coverage through to 2030. Talking about its success at Roland Garros, as per their reports, the women’s singles final between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka across TNT and truTV saw a massive jump of 94% in comparison to the previous edition. It was the most-watched French Open women’s final since 2016. Even on the men’s side, they drew a significant number (2.6 million viewers).
Reacting to their incredible coverage by bringing in the likes of Venus Williams, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Chris Evert, and many others on the same page, Andy Roddick claimed, “TNT’s coverage, I think, for the most part so far has been awesome. It has been a complete upgrade from what we normally see. I think they’ve done a great job.” Even American tennis star Ben Shelton claimed, “I think TNT has done a great job of that so far for us this year.“
If TNT secures the deal for Wimbledon in the near future, then renowned commentators like Evert, McEnroe, Williams, and others could well get the chance to work with their home soil company. Securing the rights at Wimbledon will give them major mileage after their recent unexpected breakup with NBA TV. This split came at the same time as the NBA’s huge $78 billion rights deal gave live game packages to NBC, ESPN/ABC, and Amazon, marking the end of TNT’s long history of airing NCA games since 1989.
However, previously, we have seen Warner Bros Discovery disrupting the BBC’s sports portfolio by taking over Olympics broadcasting for the past two Games. During that time, the Discovery chief executive, David Zaslav, gave an interview to the Guardian where he said that the BBC will have the chance to sub-license some of the rights. However, reports claimed, even if the BBC is ultimately able to sub-license some of the rights, it will no longer be able to market itself as the home of the Olympics across all platforms.
With Wimbledon rights under some serious clouds, has the BBC landed itself into a new set of troubles? Well, other than TNT Sports, even Sky Sports has also emerged as a strong competitor for the Wimbledon rights. They had also made quite a few significant moves in the tennis world by securing a five-year deal for exclusive rights to the ATP and WTA Tours. It also includes coverage of the US Open. With the recent boom in tennis’ popularity, all of them have now stepped onto the battlefield for the oldest tennis tournament. Who will win this off-court competition?
Credits – Instagram@wimbledon
We’ll see, but who all are in the commentary box for this year’s Wimbledon for the BBC? Although the broadcaster has managed to retain several familiar faces for its coverage at SW19, there are some of the big names that have been missing this year. Who are those?
Reasons behind Nick Kyrgios’ exclusion from the 2025 Wimbledon commentators’ list
The BBC’s comprehensive coverage features an array of former players and tennis experts providing analysis throughout the fortnight at Wimbledon. This year, BBC’s studio team features tennis legends including John McEnroe, Tim Henman, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, and many more. While Anne Keothavong, Andrew Castle, Jo Durie, Todd Woodbridge, and a few others have been handed the commentary duties. But the absence of Nick Kyrgios from that list has stirred a bit of controversy in the tennis world.
He has been replaced with America’s Chris Eubanks. As per several reports, the BBC has decided to remove Nick Kyrgios from its Wimbledon commentary team for the 2025 Championships following significant internal backlash from female commentators, journalists, and producers. How did the Aussie react to this snub, though?
Well, Kyrgios didn’t mince a word while taking a jibe at the broadcasters. He said, “It’s unfortunate but it’s probably their loss more than mine.” He further added, “I understand they’ve got Chris Eubanks, but he hasn’t beaten the greatest of all time multiple times. When someone’s beaten Federer, Nadal, Murray, and Djokovic and has incredible insights, it’s very strange you wouldn’t want that person adding knowledge to tennis fans.” So, there have been a lot of things going on at the 2025 Wimbledon. Don’t miss a moment—get minute-by-minute coverage of the Championships on EssentiallySports. But how much would you rate Nick Kyrgios as a commentator out of 10?
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