Champions League on TV: Fans face subscription inflation

Watching football on TV is already an expensive pastime – and threatens to become even more costly for Champions League fans from 2027 onwards. The TV rights for Europe's premier club competition are currently being tendered. According to information from the German Press Agency, there are four major rights packages for live broadcasts. This means that, in the worst-case scenario, football fans would need four subscriptions to watch everything.

For the first time, a US agency is handling the sale of club football's most valuable TV rights. UC3 , the joint venture between UEFA and European Football Clubs (EFC), has parted ways with its long-term marketing partner, Team , and appointed Relevent . The up-and-coming agency, headquartered in New York City, has established a football subsidiary in London, which launched the bidding process in mid-October, aiming to generate billions in revenue.

What's new is that the tender process has started simultaneously in the five largest TV markets in Europe and now covers four seasons (2027/28 to 2030/31) instead of three. But above all, the structure of the rights packages is intended to generate more revenue – which would then lead to additional costs for fans.

New to the offering is a TV package featuring the top match of the day for worldwide broadcast. With this, Relevent is targeting internationally active streaming services that are increasingly focusing on sports. Amazon Prime Video already shows Champions League matches in Germany, Italy, and Great Britain in the current rights cycle, as well as Wimbledon tennis in Germany.

After some initial hesitation, Netflix, Apple TV, and Disney+ are now also entering the market and investing heavily in live sports. Most recently, the Mickey Mouse company acquired the European media rights for the Women's Champions League. Apple broadcasts Major League Soccer worldwide and recently acquired the Formula 1 rights in the USA.

According to The Times, streaming giant Netflix, which recently secured rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups, has already expressed interest in the men's Champions League. DAZN, as the only global sports provider with first-come, first-served rights for each matchday, is also likely to be taking a very close look at the new package.

“The core of the strategy is the recognition that the media landscape is changing rapidly,” UC3 writes in its tender documents. “New global, digitally oriented platforms offer fans ever more opportunities through increasing investments in sports.” However, in this case, increased investments also mean rising prices for end consumers.

If this new global package is sold, three larger live packages will still be available for national markets: a single match on Tuesday and a single match on Wednesday, as well as the remaining matches, meaning 15 matches per matchday in the group stage. Theoretically, these four packages could go to four different broadcasters.

In Germany, the focus is primarily on the pay-TV sports broadcaster DAZN as a potential bidder, as it will continue to broadcast the majority of matches in the country until 2027. "The Champions League is the heart of European football and an important part of our offering for football fans in Germany," Alice Mascia, head of DAZN Germany, told the German Press Agency (dpa). She emphasized: "At the same time, it is part of a broad football portfolio on DAZN, including the Bundesliga and the top European leagues La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1, with which we offer fans top-class national and international football in all its facets throughout the year."

DAZN outbid pay-TV broadcaster Sky in the last two bidding rounds, and Sky is now profitable without the expensive Champions League rights. The situation for the pay-TV broadcaster from Unterföhring is also uncertain because Sky was acquired by RTL, and this deal is still subject to antitrust review. Therefore, Sky and RTL are not allowed to coordinate their potential rights acquisitions.

Free-to-air television will likely continue to show no live Champions League matches in the future, with the exception of the final. The rights are far too expensive for free-to-air broadcasters. ZDF can only show summaries on Wednesdays and the final. Until the end of the 2026/27 season, the pay-TV online channels DAZN and Amazon Prime Video will broadcast live Champions League matches in Germany. The total cost of the packages valid until then is estimated at around €300 million per season.

Relevent doesn't seem to be particularly interested in traditional television broadcasters either. At least, according to sources within the broadcaster, ARD has not received any documents from the new agency regarding the Champions League bidding process.

UEFA currently earns €4.4 billion per season from the marketing of its three European club competitions, which include the Europa League and the Conference League. The rights for the two lower-tier competitions are currently being tendered concurrently. Bids must be submitted by November 18th.