ONE of sport’s greatest tournaments could be on free-to-air TV for the last time next year.
The BBC have admitted they face a huge task juggling their resources.
And this means that even coverage of historic events is under threat.
The chance of fans missing out on elite sporting occasions has increased since a limited list of sporting “crown jewels” was brought in.
And the last Government rejected pleas from some quarters to expand it.
Currently live coverage of 12 events – designated Category A – must be on terrestrial TV.
In football that covers the men’s and women’s World Cup and the Euros, plus the finals of the FA Cup and Scottish Cup.
Horse-racing is guaranteed to get the Grand National and Derby shown free-to-air.
As for other sports, there’s the Olympic and Paralympic Games and also tennis from Wimbledon, as well as the finals of rugby league’s Challenge Cup and the World Cup in the union game.
But for many fans of rugby union the Six Nations from January to March each year is as good as it gets for annual events.
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And it’s that tournament – won by Ireland for the past two years – which faces a tricky future in terms of TV coverage.
Ruck believes the BBC is considering pulling out of it once its contract ends in 2025.
For now the Beeb has a joint deal with terrestrial rivals ITV.
And if the BBC withdraws from bidding, that means the whole free-to-air deal will be in doubt.
It was only the Beeb and ITV coming together in 2015 that stopped Sky Sports grasping the Six Nations away from free-to-air broadcasters for the first time ever.
Now there could be another battle over who gets the tournament from 2026 onwards.
And it could then be maul over… terrestrially, at least.
