UEFA, the governing body over European football competitions including the Champions League, is closing in on broadcast agreements across 19 territories in Europe, South America, Central America, Mexico, and Canada, that will approach $6 billion in annual revenue.
According to a report by David Hellier in Bloomberg, UEFA’s new broadcast deals in 19 global markets, which include rights to UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Conference League competitions, will pull in approximately $5.9 billion per year between 2027 and 2031. The deals exclude major European markets including the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, and Spain, as well as the United States. Paramount pays approximately $250 million for Champions League broadcast rights in the U.S. under a deal that runs through 2030.
UEFA’s new deals include Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Central America, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, South America, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Relevant to the American audience, however, are two of the media companies involved in bidding for this set of rights. Both Disney and Paramount were active bidders in the process, securing the vast majority of rights across South America, Central America, Mexico, and Canada. Champions League matches will be split 50-50 between Paramount+ and ESPN/Disney+ in South America, Central America, and Mexico, while Paramount+ will control 100% of rights to UEFA competitions in Canada.
Late last year, Paramount secured Champions League rights in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany.
Per Bloomberg, the rights fee UEFA secured in its recent set of deals outpaces the roughly 20% increase it secured in the major European markets last year. Those fee increases are, in part, being attributed to greater interest from American media companies.
With both Disney and Paramount clearly interested in UEFA competitions in American markets, the two companies could be headed for battle in a few years, when Paramount’s U.S. rights are set to expire.
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.