The United Rugby Championship has secured valuable long-term commercial certainty with the confirmation that BKT will extend and expand its partnership with the competition through to 2030.

The relationship began in 2022 with a focus on the Northern Hemisphere and will now extend across the entire URC footprint, with BKT becoming the competition’s Official Global Tyre Partner.

The company will continue as Title Partner of the BKT United Rugby Championship in Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, while the expanded agreement brings South Africa fully into the partnership for the first time.

It means BKT will now have a presence across all five of the Championship’s principal territories and alongside all 16 participating teams.

The new agreement will also continue the focus on fan engagement, grassroots initiatives, and community programmes developed during the partnership’s first four years.

The extension comes as the URC prepares for the start of the 2026/27 season and provides the Championship with commercial certainty around one of its most visible partnership assets for another four years.

BKT has been steadily increasing its international sports portfolio, with partnerships extending beyond rugby into football and cricket. Its relationship with the URC is particularly interesting because the competition’s geographic spread connects audiences in Europe and South Africa through one property.

“BKT’s decision to expand its partnership with the United Rugby Championship to a global level is a significant milestone for our league and a strong endorsement of the growth and international potential of the URC,” said CEO Martin Anayi.

“What began in 2022 as a successful Northern Hemisphere partnership has continued to grow, and we are delighted that BKT will now extend its investment across all five of our territories, now including South Africa, while continuing as our Title Partner in the Northern Hemisphere.”

“This expansion reflects the confidence BKT has in the URC, our clubs and our passionate supporters, and creates exciting new opportunities to connect with rugby communities across both hemispheres.”

“BKT has become an important part of the URC family, and we are excited to build on that relationship as we continue to grow the competition and its global audience.”

“A special thanks must go to Lucia Salmaso, whose belief in the URC and genuine passion for rugby have been instrumental in growing this partnership. We look forward to taking the next chapter of our relationship to a truly global level.”

 

Sport for Business Perspective

BKT came into the United Rugby Championship in 2022, has now had four years to assess what it delivers, and has responded by expanding the relationship geographically and committing through to 2030.

Sports rights holders naturally make plenty of noise about new sponsorship agreements. But renewal is often the more revealing metric because the sponsor has access to audience data, activation results, and internal measures of whether the investment is working.

 

 

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Image Credit: URC

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