European TV rights sale teaches Uefa key lesson

While governing body toasts rising revenue, plan to sell first-pick games to one global streaming company failed

- Matt Hughes

Paramount will show Champions League matches in the UK from 2027

Champagne corks were flying last Thursday after Uefa secured average annual increases of more than 20% in the value of its Champions League rights across its five biggest European markets, largely by luring the American entertainment company Paramount into the auction for the first time.

Paramount secured the UK rights by outbidding Uefa’s incumbent partner, TNT Sports, triumphed in Germany and forced Sky Italia to up its offer in Italy.

Rising revenue for the 2027-31 seasons and a major new entrant to an otherwise stagnant rights market provide cause for Uefa celebration but of equal significance in the longer term is the product that failed to sell. Uefa had hoped to sell one package of first-pick games to a global streaming company, yet that did not materialise.

Instead, Amazon Prime retained its first-pick packages in the UK, Germany and Italy - via separate auctions - and Canal+ and Movistar got all the matches in France and Spain respectively. “The global deal is the dog that didn’t bark,” Francois Godard, a senior media analyst for Enders Analysis, says. “The big tech firms clearly weren't that interested. Sport is not going global.”