Paramount Seals Uefa Rights Package
UEFA, the official governing body for European football, has agreed a major media rights deal with Paramount Global for the US broadcast of its club tournaments.
Paramount Global, the owner of the CBS network, has seen off significant competition from Amazon to conclude one of the most lucrative broadcast deals in world sport.
A six-year deal has been agreed, in a total package worth $1.5bn (£1.27bn), which breaks down to $250m (£212m) per season.
The new agreement covers the English-speaking broadcasts of UEFA’s top European competitions, including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Conference League, with a separate sale set for the Spanish-speaking rights.
The new deal, which starts from the 2024/25 season, is a substantial jump in value from the previous $100m (£85m) per season deal paid by Paramount and American Spanish-language free-to-air television network Univision.
The deal comes after UEFA and the European Club Association (ECA) appointed TEAM Marketing and Relevent Sports Group as sales partners for their men’s club competitions.
Sean McManus, the Chairman of CBS Sports, commented, “UEFA has been a key driver for Paramount+ since our launch and we are thrilled to extend this successful partnership showcasing even more world-class soccer through the 2029-30 season, building on the incredible momentum we have created the past two years.”
“UEFA is a perfect example of our differentiated strategy presenting marquee properties to drive and strengthen both our streaming and traditional linear businesses. This multiplatform approach allows us to leverage the power of Paramount Global to reach the broadest possible audience and elevate and grow the reach of UEFA in the United States.
“We look forward to continuing to provide soccer fans CBS Sports’ best in class coverage that our viewers expect.”
The new agreement has been reached at a time when UEFA’s flagship tournament, the Champions League, is set for sweeping changes to its format. Starting in 2024, the competition will be expanded to 36 teams with more matches.
The 32-team group stage will be eliminated. Instead,36 teams will participate, in which each club will play 10 group stage games: five at home, five away.
The top eight will advance automatically to a 16-team knockout round, and the next 16 teams will go into a play-off round to decide those final eight slots. The increase in the number of matches is a big contributing factor to the increased value of the rights deal.
Despite missing out on the US rights, Amazon retain broadcast deals with UEFA in the UK, Germany and Italy. It is thought that the American company is focusing its US market efforts on the NFL’s Thursday Night Football project.
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