NBC Sports Group and World Archery partner on 4-year USA media rights agreement

World Archery and NBC Sports Group have partnered on a four-year media rights agreement, giving the network the exclusive rights to televise and stream the federation’s international archery events to audiences in the United States.

The agreement runs from 2017 through to the end of the 2020, covering four Hyundai Archery World Cup seasons, and World Archery Championships in Mexico City in 2017 and the Netherlands in 2019.

Coverage will be available on linear networks and via NBC Sports Group’s digital platforms.

• Brand-new partnership between World Archery and NBC
• NBC Sports Group to broadcast international events on linear and digital platforms
• Four-year agreement running through Tokyo 2020

NBC will work with World Archery to promote the sport through its far-reaching linear and digital properties across the United States.

An estimated 23 million people across the nation pick up a bow each year, according to a report by the Archery Trade Association, making the United States a key market for the sport.

World Archery Secretary General Tom Dielen said: “Engagement with World Archery’s international calendar is steadily growing and this new partnership marks a huge step forward for archery’s penetration into the North American market.”

“The unparalleled exposure provided by NBC will take full advantage of a rising wave of interest in the sport during the current Olympic cycle, leading into Tokyo, especially after the United States’ men’s team won its second-consecutive team silver medal at Rio 2016, and a USA individual archer climbed the Olympic podium for the first time since 2000.”

NBC Sports Group President for Olympic Production and Programming Jim Bell said: “From its debut at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1900 to the iconic moment in Barcelona in 1992 when the cauldron was lit by archer Antonio Rebollo’s flaming arrow, archery has been an indelible part of the Olympic Games.”

“We’re excited to present this historic sport with more USA coverage than ever before through our partnership with World Archery.”