Amazon said Friday it secured rights to the
top pick of the Tuesday games each week from the new expanded league stage
through to the semifinals — a total of 16 each season — for the three years
from 2024-27.
The deal to show Tuesday games on the Prime
Video channel is similar to Amazon’s current Champions League rights in Germany
and Italy through the 2023-24 season. Amazon also shows some English Premier
League games each December.
“Amazon has ambitious plans across the
global sporting industry and we look forward to the innovative ways in which it
will broadcast European club football in the U.K. market,” UEFA marketing
director Guy-Laurent Epstein said in a statement published by the company.
The value of Amazon’s deal was not
disclosed, though the total value of UK rights is reportedly about 1.4 billion
pounds ($1.7 billion).
Most live rights, including the Europa
League and Europa Conference League, have been retained by BT Sport, which said
it is paying 305 million pounds ($368 million) per season. Free-to-air state
broadcaster BBC gets a new Champions League highlights show on Wednesdays.
UEFA has opted for a broader strategy in
its most valuable market for the next period, when the Champions League will
have more teams, more games and more matchday weeks — and likely a fifth
Premier League team.
In 2024, the Champions League format
changes to an eight-round league stage of 36 teams replacing traditional
six-round groups featuring a total of 32 teams. The current group stage ends in
December, whereas the new format will have games in January as well. Extra
entries will go to two countries which had the best record in the previous
season’s European competitions.
The knockout stage will start with a new
playoff round in February ahead of the round of 16 in March.
The changes agreed by UEFA in May have
created a total slate of 189 games in each Champions League season instead of
the current 125 games.
A total revenue rise of about 40% across
all UEFA club competitions per season was predicted this year by the European
Club Association, though that figure was based on an expected 10-round league
stage.
However, the reported rights increase is
about 15% in the U.K.
UEFA has also prioritized its French
broadcast deal and L’Equipe reported Canal+ has sealed those rights for about
480 million euros ($500 million) per season. Games could be sold in a
sub-licensing deal with beIN Sports Group. Both broadcasters are screening
Champions League games in the 2021-24 cycle. -AP
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