BBC to show European Athletics Championships through to 2027

UK broadcaster BBC has acquired the broadcasting rights to the European Athletics Championships until 2027, in a multi-year deal with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Source: EBU

Programming of the European Athletics Championships in Rome kicks off from Friday June 7, on streaming platform BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

The deal also includes the rights to the 2026 European Athletics Championships which takes place in Birmingham, the 2025 and 2027 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the annual European Cross Country Championships from 2024 to 2027.

EBU announced members and other broadcasters will provide free-to-air coverage of the tournament, with the EBU to also serve as the host broadcaster for the event.

According to the EBU, a total of more than 1,200 hours of live coverage of the Athletic Championships are planned for linear TV, with many broadcasters to also deliver supplementary content across their digital platforms.

The European Championships joins BBC Sport’s athletics roster which includes the Olympic Games, World Athletic Championships, UK Athletics Major Events series, Diamond League, London Marathon and the Great North Run.

Philip Bernie, interim director of BBC Sport, said: “Adding the European Athletics Championships to our athletics portfolio is great news for audiences, who get to watch the best athletes in the world regularly on the BBC. The European Athletic Championships in Rome promises to be a high class event, and we can’t wait to see how Team GB performs in the build up to the Paris Olympic Games which will be live on the BBC later this summer.”