UEFA need to change broadcast strategy after TNT Sports travesty

TNT Sports, and before them, BT Sport have held the UK rights to the UEFA Champions League since 2016, and in every season they have made the final available free-to-air on their YouTube Channel or their channel on Sky and Discovery+. That is, until 2026.

Last autumn it was confirmed that following the conclusion of the 2026-2027 season the UEFA Club competitions the rights will transfer to Paramount (UEFA Champions League) and Sky Sports (UEFA Europa League/Conference League), and this is a major blow to TNT Sports and their recently launched streaming service, HBO Max. Like a petty school child, TNT Sports have said to the UK football fan, it is my ball and I am taking it back.

After a decade of continuing the free-to-air access for UK audiences to the UEFA Champions League Final, TNT Sports have decided to remove it in 2026. The UEFA Champions League Final, and before that, the European Cup Final, has been broadcast free-to-air in the UK in every year since the 1960's, either on BBC or ITV until 1995, when ITV assumed the role of sole broadcaster in the UK. ITV then shared rights with Sky Sports from 2003 to 2015.

This year the UEFA Champions League Final features the Champions of England, Arsenal, but access to live coverage of the final will be limited to the 1.5million HBO Max subscribers, and the unknown number of subscribers to TNT Sports through other platforms such as Sky and Prime Video.

UEFA are said to be unhappy at the decision by TNT Sports, which is made to look even more ridiculous by the contrast in the United States. The UEFA Champions League Final will be Live, free-to-air on CBS, one of the USA's four major national networks, making the game available to a potential US audience of more than 340 million people.

I am no apologist for free-to-air networks in the UK, for decades the BBC and ITV had a duopoly until Sky arrived in the early 1990's, but there are some events which should be made available to the widest possible audience. For example. the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup Final saw Sky's coverage simulcast on Channel 4, and under the terms of the current EFL broadcast deal, the Carabao Cup Final is simulcast by Sky on ITV, this is because Sky realise that these are major national occasions, and that the coverage of these events can encourage more people to subscribe to their channels in the future.

In my opinion UEFA needs to adopt the same strategy as the International Olympic Committee, and sign deals with a streaming platform and broadcaster pan-Europe, and with the European Broadcasting Union. BBC currently holds the rights to highlights of every UEFA Champions League match week through to the Final, but Live free-to-air coverage of the UEFA Champions League has been missing in the UK outside the final since ITV broadcast their last match in 2015.

DAZN is developing itself as the Global Home of Football, with rights to Serie A, The National League, Belgian Pro League, World Sevens, Liga F, Arkema Première Ligue, Frauen Bundesliga, Sport Direct Women's Premiership, and highlights of La Liga, ROSHN Saudi Pro League and the Bundesliga. In addition they are set to show more than 40,000 games per year through FIFA+, covering 100 national associations around the world. DAZN has proven, through its FIFA Club World Cup coverage, that it can cover a major event on a global scale, and would be the ideal principal partner of the UEFA Champions League.

UEFA should structure the broadcast as follows for the future:

Tuesday night's first pick - Live on BBC ONE

All other Tuesday and Wednesday night games - Live on DAZN

Wednesday night highlights - BBC ONE

UEFA Champions League Final - Live on DAZN and BBC ONE

DAZN could offer each individual UEFA Champions League match on a PPV basis to non-subscribers, with games priced at £2.49, as Prime Video does for UEFA European Qualifiers and Nations League games.

UEFA's possible deal with the EBU would mean that other networks in European countries would show the UEFA Champions League free-to-air in the same template as above. This would guarantee the widest possible audience for the UEFA Champions League Final, whilst maximising broadcast revenue for UEFA and the competing clubs. It would also enable the principal partner to broadcast the UEFA Champions League tailored to their audience, and not come under pressure to make the matches available to anyone other than their subscribers.

Hopefully UEFA adopts this model, and we never have a repeat of this disgraceful act of petulance by a broadcaster again.

GRNDSTND, by Matt Hooper

Matt Hooper is an Associate member of the Sports Journalists Association.