New Uefa deal means more Champions League money

Sounds like an interesting story, Brian. Uefa seem to have operated under a "rich only get richer' mandate for a while now, with FFP the most egregious of their mechanisms in that it actively prevents other clubs from getting near the top table.

I tried to Google the original story but could not find anything that come close. Can you remember where you read this?

Thanks

Not to get all weird on conspiracies and such but could this be a little Credit Suisse damage control. It has worked for the Crown Shite.

Okay, I switched to NewsNow and finally found something that talks about the next cycle of media rights for the distribution of TV and streaming coverage of Uefa competitions. The company, TEAM Marketing, have held these rights for some time:

Set up in 1991, TEAM Marketing has held an exclusive commercial partnership with UEFA for its club competitions and has been the driving force behind the phenomenal growth of the Champions League.

TEAM retains global rights to UEFA's Champions League but US media goes to Relevent

The 3-year deal (2024-27) announced this week for media and commercial representation rights to all of UEFA's club competitions – including Champions League, Europa League and the Conference League – is expected to see a revenue uplift in the 3-year cycle to $5.5 billion, from $3.6 billion – that's less than the £4.5 billion you quoted.

Al-Khelaifi heralds new dawn of ECA/UEFA relations and the ‘tectonic shift' of the TEAM deal

These articles mention something I was not aware of – the European Club Association. Quite an interesting piece on them at Wikipedia. 232 European clubs... made up of 109 Ordinary Members and 123 Associated Members, with at least one from each of the 54 national associations. Hmm, so not just the Dirty Dozen then? But surely just the Sky 4 or 6 from England?

Yes, the ECA founder members from England (back in 2008) were Chelsea and Manchester United. But scroll down to the list of All ECA members and this is what it has for England:

• Aston Villa
• Everton
• Leicester City
• Newcastle United

Uh? That's a bit of a surprise, init? Now I know it's Wikipedia, and it could well be bang out of date... but that's definitely a new one on me. And a testament to the prowess and political savvy of Bill and Denise in projecting the club presence onto the European stage.

Now, if only we could do it on the field!

How did they come to the conclusion that this will kill off any possibility of a European Super League? The only thing that has been demonstrated is that the more money available the greedier they get and have convinced themselves that they alone are worthy of it as only they can afford the better players.

Michael @3

I read the story I think in the Liverpool Echo, it was they who mentioned the figure of £4.5 billion.

Oh. More money for a competition which I have never watched and in which I have less interest than Olympic curling.

How uninteresting.