Paramount and new billionaire owner David Ellison have made another splash in the marketplace for live sports rights, this time overseas.
According to a report by Matt Slater in The Athletic, Paramount+ has won the rights to broadcast “the majority of Champions League games” in the United Kingdom and Ireland from 2027 to 2031. Amazon’s Prime Video will continue to hold rights to its package of “first pick” matches in the UK for the same term.
Ironically, Paramount beat out incumbent bidder TNT Sports to secure the broadcast agreement. Paramount, of course, submitted the latest of several offers on Thursday to purchase TNT Sports parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Per Slater, TNT “was blown away by Paramount’s financial firepower,” during the bidding process. TNT paid approximately $1.3 billion for its current three-year cycle from 2024 to 2027. Financial details of Paramount’s latest deal were not reported.
Additionally, Slater reports that Sky Sports won the rights to broadcast the second and third tier Europa League and Conference League competitions, marking the broadcaster’s return to European football.
While the Paramount deal is not necessarily relevant to American viewers (Paramount actually has Champions League rights locked up in the United States through 2030), it is another example of the company’s focus on live sports under new ownership. Earlier this year, Paramount shocked everyone by scooping up the entire UFC portfolio for an eye-popping price of $1.1 billion per year.
In addition to securing Champions League rights in the UK and Ireland, Paramount was also named the preferred bidder in Germany.
With the market for live sports rights in the United States looking pretty barren for the next few years, it makes sense for Paramount to have looked abroad seeking its next big play.
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.