CSM has advised on the first ever Nordic media rights deal between a domestic premium property and a Telecom operator. The agreement was reached in April, 2017, in which the premier Finnish Ice hockey league Liiga licensed its media rights to Telia Company in a six-year-arrangement starting with the 2018/19 season.

CSM was chosen by Liiga in December, 2016, as the exclusive media rights advisor. Initial presentations and meetings were held with potential buyers of the rights before year end in 2016. It was made clear at an early stage that there was strong interest in the property which is ranked as number one in the Finnish market.

CSM successfully managed to include domestic as well as international media companies in the process. In March, 2017, Liiga and CSM had concluded the packaging of the rights and decided to go to market with a tender. Two rounds of bidding were run during a two-week-period. Apart from the license fee Liiga paid great attention to the exploitation and production plans presented by the media companies.
Telia Company has major plans to include live content in its future offering and made an impressive work to demonstrate its devotion to develop Finnish ice hockey together with Liiga.

In April 2022 Liiga and Telia agreed to extend the agreement between themselves to also include the 2024/2025-2026/2027 seasons.

“We believe it’s a great outcome for Liiga and Telia to further strengthen the co-operation, says Anders Wistrand, Founding Partner at CSM.

“The last couple of years with the pandemic have been challenging but the prolongation of the agreement demonstrates the strong relationship between Liiga and Telia.”, continues Wistrand.

In the 21/22 season’s play-offs, Liiga set a new record with over 300,000 people attending the arenas.
“The interest in Liiga is very high, something which Telia recognizes with the extension of our agreement”, says Riku Kallioniemi, CEO at Liiga.

“Securing a long-term agreement with a strong and innovative partner like Telia puts Liiga in an excellent position to develop the league and to increase the interest even further”, continues Kallioniemi.