Champions League to feature opening game for titleholder and streaming deal from 2027

GENEVA AP The Champions League titleholder will play a showcase opening home encounter as part of new commercial contracts for UEFA club competitions from the - season that include a global streaming deal to drive annual revenue above billion euros billion It s one innovation targeted in a six-year rights sales deal signed with United States-based agency Relevent through by UEFA and the European Football Clubs group the joint venture bicycle known as UC disclosed on Monday Relevent also is seeking a global streaming institution which could be Netflix Apple TV or Amazon Prime to buy a premium package or first choice of competition each week the Champions League is played That should be a -game seasonlong deal including the final on a Saturday to serve new consumers and viewership trends and expand the competition s ever-increasing reach UC and Relevent disclosed in a joint announcement The deadline for those offers is Nov The first Tuesday contest in September is set to be the champion hosting the only event that evening in the -team competition The rest of the opening-week games will be split across Wednesday and Thursday The reigning champions will get their title defense underway in a standalone fixture in front of their home fans the report stated The tenders offer launched on Monday also includes four-year deals for the five main media markets in Europe France Germany Italy Spain and the U K Relevent also promises new approaches to sponsorship likely drawing in a wider range of buyers to competition broadcasts The -member EFC group UEFA and Relevent hope to top at least billion euros billion in total revenue from broadcast sponsor and licensing deals for European club competitions each season from - Revenue is at least billion euros for each of the three seasons through which pays almost billion euros into the prize money fund shared by the Champions League teams The second-tier Europa League pays million euros million in total prize money this season and the third-tier Conference League is worth million euros Relevent s role in European soccer Relevent which was co-founded by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is both UEFA s key commercial partner for the Champions League and the promoter of a planned Villarreal vs Barcelona encounter in La Liga on Dec The proposed battle was called regrettable last week by UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin but the European soccer body explained it will not oppose La Liga s plan as an exception Netflix s first major move into soccer broadcast rights was buying U S rights from FIFA for the Women s World Cup in in Brazil and which is expected to be in the U S likely co-hosting with Mexico AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer Source