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Wales’ four regions have today confirmed a lucrative sponsorship tie-up with BT Sport.

As first revealed by WalesOnline in April, the deal sees the broadcasters acquire the naming rights for the Arms Park - the home of the Cardiff Blues - and become shirt sponsors for the other three Welsh regional sides.

The famous old ground will be re-branded as the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park from next season, with the Blues having secured a three-year deal with an option for a further two years.

They will retain Airbus as their shirt sponsors, but the Ospreys, Scarlets and Dragons will have BT Sport on their jerseys from next term.

BT Sport will appear on the front of home and away shirts of the Scarlets and Dragons. The BT Sport logo will appear on the front of the Ospreys home shirt and back of the away shirt - as the region already has a partner for the front.

It’s understood that BT will also have involvement at community level within the regions.

The overall deal comes as a significant financial boost for the four regions, who have worked together on the package for a number of months.

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Ann Beynon, Director Wales, BT said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with the four Regions and there are exciting times ahead as we embark on our new relationship with Welsh Rugby.

“Rugby is at the heart of BT Sport - we’re excited to support Regional Rugby and its distinct and dynamic culture, with all it stands for in terms of strength, determination, daring, passion and skill.

“We respect and want to support the passion of the very knowledgeable Welsh rugby communities and applaud the positive and progressive work being done by Regional Rugby Wales (RRW) and those overseeing and working within the four Welsh Regions."

Mark Davies, Acting Chief Executive of Regional Rugby Wales, the body which represents the four Welsh Regions, said: “It’s a time to celebrate the strides that the Welsh Regions are making to take the game forward in Wales with real unity, a common purpose, shared philosophy and commitment to ensuring that our businesses are sustainable.



“This is a clear vote of confidence in the Welsh Regions and we are delighted to be working alongside BT, a successful global brand that can see the real value in investing significantly in our Regional businesses, our 200 professional players and the rugby development structures we have in place.



“It’s great to have positive news for Regional Rugby as we all now look forward to a new season, with a new European competition and greater challenges in our PRO12 domestic league.”

The re-naming of the Arms Park - where the joint deal will be officially announced this lunchtime - will be a ground-breaking move for Welsh rugby.

It follows in the wake of a long list of stadium sponsorship packages in various sports, with the Aviva Stadium, the Allianz Park and the AJ Bell Stadium – the homes of Ireland, Saracens and Sale Sharks respectively – gracing the world of rugby.

In football, the list is an extensive one, with the likes of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, Bolton’s Reebok Stadium and Leicester’s King Power Stadium springing to mind.

In Wales, you have the Cigg-e Stadium (Merthyr FC), the Glyndwr University Racecourse Stadium (Wrexham FC), the Book People Stadium (Bangor City FC) and of course Swansea’s Liberty Stadium, not forgetting the Swalec Stadium, the home of Glamorgan cricket.

It’s believed the Blues were insistent on retaining the Arms Park in the title and that BT were more than happy to go along with that, recognising the iconic nature of the name worldwide.

As for the shirt sponsorship deal with the other three regions, that sees the broadcasters adding to the link up they have in Scotland.

They are already shirt sponsors for both Scottish pro-teams, Edinburgh and Glasgow, who will also be hugely boosted by the £20m naming rights deal for Murrayfield which BT are set to sign with the SRU.

BT Sport have emerged as increasingly prominent players in rugby over the past year.

They have taken over broadcasting rights for the Aviva Premiership this season and are set to share coverage of the new European Rugby Champions Cup with rivals Sky Sports.

That compromise joint TV deal was crucial to the Euro peace package which was announced last month.