UEFA doubles Champions League TV rights in $100 million/yr deal

While the past 12 months have been a turbulent time for UEFA, the European soccer organization has managed to double the amount of revenue it’ll generate for Champions League and Europa League coverage in the United States.

Under UEFA’s current deal with FOX Sports, the broadcaster pays approximately $52 million per year for the rights to show the games in both English and Spanish to viewers in the United States. That current deal ends at the completion of the 2017/18 season.

But under the new deal with Turner Sports and Univision, UEFA will earn approximately $100 million in revenue from the TV and streaming rights for 2018 through 2021. According to a World Soccer Talk source that’s close to the situation, Turner Sports will pay approximately $60 million per year for the English-language TV rights, while Univision Deportes will pay approximately $40 million/year to show the games in Spanish-language.

The decision by UEFA to split the TV rights to the Champions League and Europa League to an English-language package and a Spanish-language package paid dividends to the European soccer association. By doing so, UEFA was able to double the amount of revenue it will generate from TV rights instead of selling the packages as one that included both English and Spanish.

With Univision Deportes losing the World Cup TV rights for 2018 and 2022 to Telemundo, the acquisition of the Champions League will help bolster the Spanish-language network’s arsenal of soccer TV rights. For Turner Sports, the broadcaster will be entering a new arena just as NBC Sports did when it acquired the rights to the Premier League in 2013.