American media and entertainment giant Paramount Skydance won the auction for the majority of broadcast rights Champions League matches in the UK from 2027 to 2031, which will be a major shake-up for the domestic rights market.
The Guardian has learned that Paramount, whose subsidiary Paramount+ holds the US rights to Champions League games, made the biggest bid at this week's auction and an announcement is expected. Amazon Prime has confirmed it has retained the rights to select Tuesday's matches in three major European markets as part of a new streaming deal sold UEFA.
Sources familiar with the tender process said Paramount's offer was significantly higher than the £1 billion TNT is currently paying in an auction that will be considered a success for UC3, the joint venture between UEFA and European football clubs that runs the Champions League, and its new commercial rights distributor, Relevent Football Partners.
Paramount Skydance is led by David Ellison, whose father, Larry Ellison, co-founded Oracle and is an ally of Donald Trump. This was reported from Al Jazeera This week, Paramount was preparing a $71 billion bid for Warner Bros Discovery, which owns TNT Sports.
In the context of a potential takeover, TNT Sports' long-term future as a standalone brand is unclear, but the broadcaster's bid for UK rights has been pursued, initially under the guise of BT Sport, since 2013 and is understood to be disappointed it missed out on the opportunity. UK fans will now need another subscription to watch the Champions League as Paramount joins a growing portfolio of football rights holders that includes TNT, Sky Sports, Amazon and Dazn.
Under the deal with Paramount, all Champions League matches in the UK will be shown live, with the exception of the Tuesday night openers, which were sold separately for the first time in the five major European markets together. No collective agreement has been reached, but Amazon Prime will continue to select games on Tuesdays in the UK, Germany and Italy from 2027.
Amazon is believed to have beat out competition from rival streamers including Netflix and Disney+. Although it will select matches first, there will be limits on the number of times each club can be shown.
Canal+ will show all Champions League matches in France, with Movistar expected to have fought off strong competition from Paramount to retain its rights in Spain. Paramount is determined to expand into the European market and its proposals are a sign of growing American interest in European football ahead of next summer's World Cup.
Given the value of the winning bids accepted, UEFA is expected to be confident of securing a significant increase in the value of television rights (£2.9 billion per annum) in the current three-year cycle.
The Champions League auction was the first tender handled for UEFA by US-owned agency Relevent Football Partners since it replaced the governing body's long-time sales partner Team Marketing last year. UC3 and Relevent have made significant changes, including a pan-European streaming package and extending the rights cycle to four years.
UEFA will view these lucrative deals as confirmation of a revamped Champions League with its expanded stage and single 36-team table.
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While Paramount has yet to confirm it has secured a Champions League spot, Sky Sports announced on Thursday night that it had won the rights to all 342 Europa League and Conference League matches from 2027, in another blow to TNT.
“I’m proud that we can bring European football back to Sky customers,” said Sky sporting director Jonathan Leach. “The UEFA Europa League and Conference League have been some of the most exciting European events in recent years, with English clubs consistently performing well and winning trophies.”
In a statement, TNT Sports indicated that it was not willing to match the financial terms offered by Paramount. “Ultimately, we remained committed to an approach that made financial sense for our business and for our customers,” it said. “TNT Sports maintains a strong football news portfolio with our Premier League coverage, recently acquired rights to the Emirates FA Cup and the Adobe Women's FA Cup.”
