Uefa

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Uefa’s first-ever sale of centralised global media rights to the Women’s Champions League is thought to have drawn bids from at least four established sports-rights agencies, one new-entry agency player and one media group.

European football’s governing body Uefa has increased the value of its top-tier Champions League rights in Albania in the 2021-24 cycle by almost a third while also securing free-to-air coverage.

European football’s governing body Uefa has secured a huge hike in revenues from national-team rights in Finland as public-service broadcaster YLE overcame strong competition to secure a long-term deal.

After a five-month delay and a few matches shaved off the top, this season’s Uefa Champions League and Europa League have finally come to a close. The one-legged format used from the quarterfinals produced one of the most exciting tournaments in recent memory, prompting Uefa president Aleksander Čeferin to ponder whether Uefa could learn a thing or two for future seasons.

Nordic Entertainment (Nent) Group’s rivals paid big fees to seal crucial Uefa club competition rights, allowing European football’s governing body to more than double its media-rights income in the Nordics.

European football’s governing body Uefa, the English Premier League and pay-television broadcaster Canal Plus International have welcomed a court ruling in Rwanda concerning the piracy of their broadcast c…

Internet retail giant Amazon is set to break into the Italian media-rights market as it is believed to have submitted a winning bid for a package of Uefa Champions League rights covering the 2021-24 cycle

The Team Marketing agency has initiated broadcast rights sales processes in three more European countries for the Uefa club competitions during the 2021-24 cycle

The CAA Eleven agency has launched an invitation to tender in Poland for Uefa national team rights in the new 2022-28 cycle, SportBusiness understands

Features

Incumbent Match TV overcame pressure from Russian internet players to retain rights to Uefa’s club competition for the 2021-24 cycle, albeit at a steep increase on its current outlay, SportBusiness Media understands.

Spanish telco Telefónica, which owns Movistar, has capitalised on a lack of competitive bids to acquire Uefa’s club rights in the 2021-24 cycle.

Uefa has more than doubled the value of its club competition media rights across five Balkan countries, awarding almost all rights to aggressive bidder Telekom Srbija, as the telco’s battle with rival United Media intensified.

Uefa secured a 40-per-cent headline increase on the value of its sub-Saharan Africa free-to-air European Championship package in a third successive deal with the TV Media Sport agency.

Uefa has increased the value of its lower-tier club competition media rights in Germany by over 40 per cent through commercial broadcaster RTL’s acquisition of exclusive, multi-platform rights to the Europa League and newly created Europa Conference League.

Uefa has continued its success in the DACH region by more than doubling the value of its club competition rights in Austria and significantly increasing them in Switzerland.

In the latest interactive monthly data report, SportBusiness Media analyses the media-rights landscape in the Middle East and Africa.

Uefa’s Europa League revenue in France will fall in the 2021-24 cycle given limited interest in the property in the wake of the fierce contest for rights to the top-tier Champions League.

Uefa has increased the value of Champions League rights in Germany by nearly 70 per cent in the 2021-24 cycle, driven by an intense broadcaster battle in which DAZN ousted Sky Deutschland and Amazon made another foray into premium football.

TF1 and M6’s joint acquisition of Euro 2020 free-to-air rights was struck at a similar per-match fee as the one they paid for the last comparable edition of the tournament, in 2012.

There are two truisms in the sale of sports media rights which at first glance appear difficult to reconcile. One is that every market has a unique set of characteristics and the value earned is contingent upon those characteristics at the moment the rights are sold. The other is that the early deals in a market-by-market sales cycle create a psychological benchmark which affects how sales in the following markets play out.

Mediapro’s accusation of impropriety in the Uefa Champions League tender process in France has cast a cloud over a record rights-fee outcome for Uefa in the country. But the agency’s threat to take Uefa to court may not be credible, industry experts told SportBusiness Media.
USA

Competition to create effective digital offerings in the US drove a hike in value for Uefa’s club competitions for the 2021-22 to 2023-24 cycle. CBS overcame strong opposition to surprise the market in acquiring English-language rights, while Univision renewed its high-performing Spanish-language rights.

BT’s huge outlay for Uefa club competition rights in the 2021-24 cycle was driven by the UK telco's need to retain a viable sports broadcasting proposition.

Uefa, European football’s governing body, could be on the verge of a sharp downturn in Champions League media-rights revenues for the 2021-24 cycle, with specific factors in the key UK and France markets exacerbating a broader price correction already anticipated for similar high-profile properties.

Uefa is close to completing a record-breaking deal for rights to the 2024 European Championship with Deutsche Telekom, in what would be the largest fee ever received by Uefa for European Championship rights in a single market.

At stake is the future funding of elite sport through the sale of media rights.

The BBC has paid around ten-times more for the UK rights to the 2021 Uefa Women’s Euro than commercial broadcaster Channel 4 paid for the 2017 tournament, SportBusiness Media understands.

Indonesian media company Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek) has agreed a two-season deal with Uefa for Champions League and Europa League rights, which became available after the collapse of the rights-holder’s deal with the Futbal Momentum Asia agency.