Champions League TV broadcast rights will be put out to tender again. There are a number of innovations that will likely incur additional costs for viewers. Classic TV stations like ARD didn’t even receive any tender documents.
Football on TV has long been an expensive indulgence – and it threatens to become even more expensive for Champions League fans from 2027. TV rights for the premier class are currently out to tender. According to information from the German Press Agency, there are four main rights packages for live broadcasts. In extreme cases, this means football fans need four subscriptions to be able to see everything.
The sale of the most valuable television rights to a football club has been made for the first time by a US agency. UC3, a joint venture between UEFA and European Football Clubs (EFC), has split from its long-term marketing team and commissioned Relevent. The up-and-coming agency, headquartered in New York City, has set up a football subsidiary in London, which launched a bidding competition in mid-October, intended to raise possible billions.
What’s new is that the tender starts simultaneously in the five largest TV markets in Europe and now covers four seasons (28/2027 to 31/2030) instead of three. But most importantly, rights package adjustments should bring in additional revenue – and then additional costs for fans.
Netflix, Apple TV, and Disney+ enter the market
Newly offered is a TV package with today’s most popular matches for worldwide broadcast. Relevent is targeting internationally active streaming services that are increasingly focused on sports. Amazon Prime Video is already showing Champions League matches in Germany, Italy and the UK as well as tennis from Wimbledon in the country in the current rights cycle.
After a long period of hesitation, Netflix, Apple TV, and Disney+ are now entering the market and investing a lot of money in live sports. Recently, the Mickey Mouse Group acquired European media rights to the Women’s Champions League. Apple streams Major League Soccer worldwide and recently acquired Formula 1 rights in the US.
According to the Times, streaming leader Netflix, which recently secured the rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups, has expressed interest in the men’s Champions League. But DAZN is also likely to be the only global sports provider to take a closer look at the new package with early access rights on every match day.
“The focus of this strategy is the recognition that the media landscape is changing rapidly,” wrote UC3 about the call for proposals: “New, digitally oriented global platforms offer fans more opportunities through increased investment in sport.” In this case, increased investment also means an increase in final consumer prices.
In Germany, DAZN is the focus
If the new world package is sold, then three larger live packages will be available for the national market: one match on Tuesday and one match on Wednesday as well as the remaining matches, namely 15 matches per match day in the group phase. In theory, these four packages could be addressed to four different broadcasters.
In Germany, the main bidder in focus is pay sports channel DAZN, which will broadcast the majority of matches in the country until 2027. “The Champions League is at the heart of European football and is an important part of our offer to football fans in Germany,” Germany boss Alice Mascia told dpa. He emphasized: “At the same time, it is part of DAZN’s extensive football portfolio, including the Bundesliga and top European leagues La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1, with which we offer fans the best of national and international football in all its aspects throughout the year.”
In the last two tenders, DAZN beat pay TV broadcaster Sky, which is now in the black without expensive premier class rights. The situation for Unterföhring’s pay channels is also uncertain as Sky was bought by RTL and the deal is still awaiting antitrust review. Therefore, Sky and RTL are not allowed to agree on a possible rights purchase.
The Champions League is too expensive for free TV
There will likely be no live matches on free-to-air television in the future – apart from the final. Rights to free TV channels are too expensive. ZDF can only show summaries on Wednesdays and finals. Pay online channels DAZN and Amazon Prime Video will show live Champions League matches in Germany until the end of the 2026/27 season. The total price of the package in force until then is estimated to be around 300 million euros per season.
Relevent also doesn’t seem to have much interest in traditional television channels. At least, according to broadcasters, ARD has not received any documents from the new agency for the Champions League tender.
UEFA currently collects 4.4 billion euros per season from marketing the three European Cups, which also include the Europa League and Conference League. Rights for the two lower-class competitions are currently being advertised in parallel. Bids must be submitted no later than November 18th.
dpa/SUF
