European soccer’s governing body UEFA has, at the last minute, opened a last-minute tender process in Spain for broadcast rights to the top-tier Champions League (UCL) club competition.
This comes despite UCL rights in Spain having already been allocated - following a process in mid-2023 - to Movistar. The rights cycle extends from the start of the 2024-25 competition (set for mid-September) through 2026-27.
This new tender - detailed on the UEFA tender site as a second one for Spain - was launched on August 20 (last Tuesday), with a deadline for submission of bids of September 12.
Movistar, the pay-TV operator owned by Telefónica, retained rights to UCL action last year in a deal that also covered the second-tier Europa League and third-tier Conference League. GlobalData Sport has valued that deal as being worth just over $1.05 billion overall.
This new tender has been unveiled ahead of the draw for the 2024-25 UCL group stage, which takes place on August 29.
For the draw, four Spanish teams (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, and Atletico Madrid) will be amongst the 36 teams (up from 32 previously) involved overall.
Spanish teams regularly win UEFA men’s club competitions - Real Madrid, for example, have won the UCL six times since 2014.
From the 2024-25 season, Europe’s premier club competition will take on a new single-league format, with the competition expanding from 32 to 36 teams, and incorporating 189 matches instead of the current 125.
The Europa League and Conference League will also increase in size next year, with the match total up from 282 to 342.
The first group stage games from the revamped UCL take place on September 17.
In terms of recent UEFA club competition media rights deals for the next cycle, earlier this month the Prima Sport and Digi Sport Romanian pay-TV networks renewed rights.
Rights in the Caribbean have also been snapped up recently, by the Caribbean Premier Sports Limited (CPSL) organization.
That deal entails the Rush Sports, Flow Sports, and Sports Max channels owned by CPSL covering the next club competition cycle.
