CBS Sports lands exclusive TV rights for the EFL as insider reveals why network beat ESPN, Netflix and more to multi-year English soccer deal

The English Football League (EFL) and Carabao Cup is heading to CBS Sports after the network agreed an exclusive multi-year deal to air both competitions in the United States.

CBS Sports, already the home of America's Champions League coverage, has added to its growing soccer portfolio after wrestling the rights to England's lower professional divisions away from previous broadcasters ESPN.

At least 250 EFL games will be aired on the network each year from the 2024-25 campaign - which begins next month - all the way through the 2027-28 season as part of the four-year deal.

As well as Championship, League One and League Two fixtures, US viewers will also be able to watch Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy games on the CBS Sports Network, CBS Sports Golazo Network and Paramount+.

CBS plans to broadcast a minimum of 155 matches from the second-tier Championship, 38 fixtures from League One and League Two - the third and fourth divisions - along with the end-of-season promotion play-off games.

The network will also show at least 30 ties in the Carabao Cup, a knockout competition involving every club in the EFL.

Relevent Sports negotiated the sale on behalf of the EFL, who opted for a deal with CBS ahead of the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Apple as well as ESPN.

Relevent president Boris Gartner told The Athletic: 'With the type of property that it is, we’re going more for a wider distribution. So, even though we had conversations with all of the above, the focus for us was landing on a platform to give the widest distribution and the widest promotion for the property.'

'We wanted the right partner for the EFL that’s going to market the league in a way that has not been done, historically,' added chief executive Daniel Sillman. 

'We don’t want it just to sit on a streaming service and sit behind other sports or other football products. We wanted somebody that was going to market it, and we knew from our experience with Paramount on UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League that they use the Golazo show to really tell great stories about the clubs and the players.'