Shortly after reports emerged that UEFA was considering a “global offering” targeted at prominent streamers like Amazon or Netflix during its next round of broadcast negotiations for the Champions League, it appears the federation already has a bidder.
According to a report by Martyn Ziegler in The Times of London, Netflix is prepared to make a bid for “one Champions League match per round as part of a shake-up of UEFA’s broadcast deals.” Currently, UEFA sells broadcast rights for the Champions League on a piecemeal basis by country or territory. For instance, Paramount owns rights to the competition in the United States through 2030. In its new deals, UEFA is looking to attract major streamers by offering global or quasi-global packages.
Per Ziegler, “The platform that wins the global rights would have the first pick of Tuesday games but would have a limit on the number of matches featuring one team — so, for example, it could not select Real Madrid for every match.”
UEFA will face some hurdles selling its new rights packages. Broadcast rights in major European markets become available starting with the 2027-28 season, but rights in other significant markets, such as the United States, don’t expire until 2030. Therefore, UEFA won’t be able to offer a genuinely global package until its ongoing contracts in other markets come to an end.
As for Netflix, a package of Champions League games would be a sensible fit into its overall live sports portfolio. The streamer has placed its focus on “events” like MLB’s Home Run Derby, the FIFA Women’s World Cup, NFL Christmas Day games, and one-off boxing matches like Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul. To have global reach (or near-global reach) for the biggest Champions League game each week would be a coup for Netflix in its overall live sports ambitions.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.