The 2024-25 UEFA Champions League season is underway, and it comes with major change.
The expanded League Phase format introduced for this year means all 36 clubs are now grouped in a single table and playing eight matches, which will then see the top 24 teams advance to the knockout phase. That means there are 189 total matches, 51 percent more than before.
That obviously has implications for CBS and parent company Paramount Global, which has the rights to show those matches through 2030. They’ll continue to feature all matches on streaming service Paramount+. That service will also feature the popular whiparound coverage of The Golazo Show, hosted by Nico Cantor and Nigel Reo-Coker, and the prominent UEFA Champions League Today studio show, hosted by Kate Abdo alongside Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher, and Micah Richards.
Some matches and other coverage will be on linear CBS Sports Network as well. Others will be available for free on FAST channels CBS Sports Golazo and Champions League, the CBS Sports app, and PlutoTV. Crucial parts of the knockout phase may include broadcast CBS as well, and certainly will include a just-announced David Beckham altcast on Paramount+. But, in any case, CBS Sports will have a lot more matches to show across their platforms.
On a media conference call last week, Abdo, Henry, and Carragher discussed the format changes, alongside CBS Sports executive vice president (programming) Dan Weinberg and UEFA Champions League Today coordinating producer Pete Radovich. And while there was a lot of excitement about the format change in general, Henry offered some concerns from a former player’s perspective on how this will impact an already-crowded fixture calendar.
“I think for us, for CBS, it’s just outstanding, more games to be able to talk about,” he said. “But I’m gonna go on the side of being a coach. Too many games. Too many games. I was an ex-player, I don’t know how those guys do it. As a pundit, I love it. As an ex-player and as a coach, there’s too many games, too many games.
“…You start to play a season and then go to the New World [on exhibition tours], and come back and play national team, and more games, and more games left, more games right, and then FIFA tournaments at the end of the season. So as much as I want to see Liverpool and I want to see Man City in there, I want to see the best players on the field being able to perform whenever they can.
“That’s also part of the product. Having also the best players on the field being able to perform all the time. So yes, it is outstanding for us. But if I was a coach…”
There are big advantages for CBS Sports and their pundits here, obviously.
Weinberg said, “More games is great from a programming perspective” and “As a programmer, I love it.” And Radovich said attempts to predict this week by week suggest that the final couple of matchdays in this League Phase format will be “insane,” with a lot of big teams battling for a few knockout spots. And Carragher was particularly excited about what this means for excitement around the start of the season.
“I always felt the Champions League came alive after Christmas in the knockout stage,” he said. “I think most people could tell who was going to qualify from the group stage, with the odd surprise now and again, but more often than not, we knew the two top teams who would go through. And now, I think this new format does feel like every game will be given the full Champions League feel and vibe about it.”
He added that some of that fixture congestion has led to some clubs taking Champions League matches that weren’t as crucial less seriously and resting top players there.
“I think when think the Champions League first began, I think people were resting players in the domestic league because the Champions League was the glitz, the glamour, the highest level. But then we got to the stage where you think of the biggest leagues, maybe the four or five biggest leagues, their teams may have already been qualified in game three or four and the last two games saw them maybe resting players and saving players for the Premier League game of the weekend, or La Liga.
“And I think the format now from UEFA, where it’s like the league format, even if you might be fourth in the league, I still think there’s this feeling of wanting to be top. It doesn’t mean you win the trophy, but you want to be top of this league format. I just think it’ll go right to the last game, I think they’re getting great games straight away.”
There are some challenges for the CBS team with this, though. In particular, there might be some for host Abdo, with so many more matches to prepare on and potential rule quirks with the new format. And she said the possible late drama around so many clubs in the final matches will make for a lot of things to watch.
“I feel like I’ll need to be on my toes, and I think that’s going to be the case for all of us trying to understand in real time how that table is moving,” she said. “Because I think that’s what we’re going to see happen with the League Phase, things will shift and swing hugely just within one day.
“And I think that’s what’s going to make it so exciting. That’s why everybody’s excited with the new format, just because we’re going to see that kind of level of unpredictability. Whereas in previous years or seasons, at a certain point in the group stages, we all kind of knew essentially pretty much in a number of those groups how things would play out in some of those games. Whereas now, I think it’s going to go right down to the wire.”
Radovich said there will be more work for Abdo there too in making sure to communicate to viewers what certain scenarios could mean.
“I think it will be a lot of time understanding the tiebreakers, a lot of explaining. For Kate, with the new format, with so many new rules, she’s going to have to be the absolute bible on that. She’s going to have to know it inside-out, because if there’s any question on it, she’s the one to go to. So she’s going to have to be basically more buttoned-up than anyone on the show.”
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“No, we’re not that high up on the food chain that they’re consulting with us yet on how to format their leagues,” he said. “I wish we were in those conversations, but no, there was really no consultation. We found out after the fact like everyone else, which is fine because I think they did actually a great job with this one. As I said, playing it out, I can’t wait for this to actually come to fruition because I think people will see just how cool it’s going to be.”
The eighth and final League Phase matches will all take place simultaneously, similar to many domestic leagues’ final matchdays. Radovich said that will produce particular drama, which they’ll cover with a whiparound Golazo Show (perhaps also featuring some or all of the Champions League Today cast) and more, saying “That day is going to be blockbuster, it’s going to be box office. And so we definitely plan on whiparound and probably doing it to another level, including these guys.”
Overall, there’s definitely a lot of pundit, executive, and fan interest in this new look for the competition, and what that could mean. And the jubilation over that seems worth it. But it was notable to also hear Henry’s concerns for the impacts on players around the overall fixture congestion, which this is a part of. As noted, CBS didn’t make this move happen and (as per Radovich) wasn’t even consulted on it, so they’re not the ones to blame (and even UEFA’s additions here are only a part of the overall soccer matchday calendar). But it is worth keeping in mind that even a largely-popular expansion like this can have downsides.
And that’s also worth considering around other leagues’ discussions or implementations of further expansions, from the NFL going to 17 regular-season games beginning in 2021 and likely 18 soon (plus expanded playoffs, plus perhaps more international games) to the new 12-team College Football Playoff and beyond. All of these have significant TV merits, and that’s a large reason why they’re happening. But amidst that, it’s worth considering the challenges for players, and it was notable to hear that on a coverage-promoting call.
