Premier League Productions: Simplifying Global Broadcasting at Scale
About the Client
Even if you’re not the biggest fan of football, you have no doubt heard of the Premier League. The most popular football league in the world, it is known for both stellar play and exceptional broadcasting quality. While it’s best to leave sports talks to real pundits, we can be sure to say that the quality of the things you get onscreen depends on quality tech. And this is where IMG and Premier League Productions (PLP) come into play.
As the production arm of the Premier League, PLP is fully responsible for producing and distributing the league’s content to international broadcasters across 188 countries. To put things in perspective, we’re talking about over 6,000 hours of content per season. This includes all 380 matches, wide-ranging support shoulder programming such as studio shows, highlights, magazine shows and digital content. And that’s not even mentioning satellite distribution and connectivity available to all 20 Premier League grounds and training facilities.
Behind this scale lies one of the most successful broadcast operations in global sport. The Premier League’s position as the world’s most-watched football competition not only shapes its cultural reach but also sets the benchmark for global sports broadcasting. Here, PLP, together with the league itself, has thought through every step of broadcasting 380 football matches every year, while also making it seamless for the clubs to manage their stadium and player resources.
For the model to satisfy the needs of every broadcaster, it has to handle a vast amount of match-related information – everything from broadcasting data and scripts to matchday stat packs and video content. But the most critical challenge lies in supporting broadcasters pre-matchday and on-site at each match: arranging player interviews, booking camera crews, and allocating studio or filming facilities in and around the stadium.
With the help of NFQ, Premier League has a unified platform that brings every data point and process together relating to the broadcast of matches – reducing complexity, saving time, and ensuring broadcasters can focus on what matters most: delivering the Premier League experience to fans worldwide.
Challenge
One of the key challenges with PLP’s original system was handling the volume and variety of requests from 200+ broadcasters every week. From securing a post-match interview with Erling Haaland to booking Playercam to follow Bukayo Saka, Mo Salah, or even Pep Guardiola – everyone wants the best angles, best segments and best opportunities. Behind-the-scenes, PLP staff were co-ordinating all of this through six separate systems. Even the most basic tasks like issuing a camera crew or allocating parking for TV crews meant jumping between tools and piecing things together manually. And in this mentally challenging field, which at times feels as complex as air traffic control, every distraction takes its toll.
During the discovery phase, we worked closely with PLP to untangle these workflows – not just documenting what was already in place, but uncovering the needs that had never been defined. That process laid the groundwork for a unified platform where every request, big or small, could be managed in one place. Instead of fighting fires across several apps, PLP teams now work from a streamlined system designed to match the scale – and the brand – of the Premier League.
Solution
The value that NFQ brings to sports organisations lies in building bespoke solutions and helping them navigate the suite of tools they already have. Such organisations, being responsible for managing a great number of different solutions, often struggle to piece it all together. Some practices need to be uprooted, while others need to be made standard practice. Our approach is simple – to find the most suitable tools and technologies, basing our judgement on real performance rather than vendor relationships or legacy status.
Initially, PLP’s legacy system encompassed six individual subsystems that were relatively independent of each other in terms of information sharing. For PLP/IMG admins, broadcasters, and clubs alike, this fragmentation created daily inefficiencies, which resulted in time and opportunities wasted. Centralisation was the name of the game, and we’re happy that PLP chose to play it.
A single convenient hub for all users. Creating a unifying structure, we brought individual subsystems under the same umbrella – a single domain – making the system more user-friendly. Shared tools like alerts and notifications are also available across the whole system, reducing duplication and confusion.
Easy commitment tracking for clubs. Football clubs competing in the Premier League are required to make available content-capture sessions with players, coaches, or other personnel. Our task was to make their progress toward those commitments crystal clear.
In addition to supporting these three user groups, the platform now stores comprehensive data on all broadcaster services and generates the financial and operational reports needed by Premier League’s internal teams.
Our tech stack for this project included: Entra ID for user authentication and management; Opta for retrieving season fixtures, club and player information, keeping fixture states and times up to date, and accessing live data; Sendgrid for sending customisable and personalised notifications, and Power BI along with other data tools for building custom reports, supporting internal use, and enabling data-driven decisions.
Results
One of the key success factors of this project was the strategic partnership mindset NFQ brought to the table – acting not just as developers, but as a thought partner who challenged assumptions, clarified priorities, and helped shape the vision of the new system.
Value to the organisation. All users now have access to the same modern system that simplifies information flows, task coordination, and other crucial elements. Thanks to a robust back-end backbone, the new system provides everyone with a single source of truth for information, eliminating conflicting and outdated ways of tracking.
Value to admins. With new automation tools and accurate information, admins can now generate reports and develop new functionalities trouble free. We have also introduced several new types of reports, interviews, and other functionalities, which previously had to be coordinated via email or various online platforms.
Value to broadcasters. For broadcasters, one of the main benefits is having all match-related information in one place, including commentator details, match statistics, team kit colours, intro videos and broadcast scripts. The new visual design also helps find information faster with photos, coloured labels, and highlighted pending actions. Having a mobile version of the system was a major improvement.
Value to clubs. The legacy system had only a handful of interview types, which forced the clubs to coordinate those not covered by it directly with admins via email or other platforms. Admins, for their part, would then try to solicit broadcasters separately and wait for a reply, which was slow. Now they can do it in a more structured way, every step being confirmed by the admin.
Today, the platform is live, delivering measurable impact – and we continue to extend it with new features to further streamline processes and elevate the user experience.
Our Services to Premier League Productions
Custom Software Development
Product Discovery & Consulting
Systems Integration
UX/UI Design
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