Some interesting developments have been seen in the football media rights sector, which was already under severe growth pressure. In such a situation, some strategic steps which seems to suggest that the planners are redrawing the course of action.
In the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while FIFA struggled to sell rights at the price they wanted in the two highest populated nations, China and India, where the odd game-timing created issues with media rights companies placing more emphasis on return-on-investment (ROI), they found few takers, in parallel, FIFA also received very encouraging response in The Americas. The fact is each market behaves differently.
The other developments seen is the shifting the focus on streamers. In a report from S&P Global Market Intelligence, it is explicitly highlights that the 2026 tournament features a broader number of streaming rights holders in some markets, including Brazil and Japan, compared to the historically one-or-two-partner model.
In this blog, we look in the media rights status of European club level football and understand the redrawn strategy by sports properties to keep media rights revenue as important as before.
European ‘Big 5’ League Media Rights Status in 26/27
It’s important to understand the present media rights landscape to have a grasp of the emerging strategy options. The 26/27 period across European club football, specifically, ‘big five’ leagues is as follows:
- The current annual value of Premier League’s broadcast rights (includes international and domestic) at €4.53bn has grown by 17% over previous cycle thanks to the solid 23% growth in international media rights, which, at €2.56bn per year, is contributing more than the domestic value. This value is expected to continue for at 3 seasons before discussion on new rights begin unless any other developments.
- LALIGA’s domestic media rights are set to increase by 9% on a per year basis which roughly equates to an increase of €500mn across the new cycle signed till 2031/32.
- German Bundesliga has managed to secure a 2% increase with new €4.48bn domestic broadcast deals, bringing in €1.12bn per year from 2025/26 till 2028/29 season from the current rights deal worth €1.1bn per year. Interestingly, it’s newly revamped international media mix contains YouTubers, streaming and linear channels.
- The Italian Serie A clubs earn approximately 2% less per year in domestic rights than the previous deal while its international media rights is 4% less cumulating to a total of €1.2bn resulting in 3% reduction in value per year
- The French Professional Football League’s (LFP) Ligue 1 media rights course changed in 25/26 when it had to opt for DTC route in domestic market resulting in a drastic drop in revenue. In 25/26, €142mn was distributed revenue as per media reports and is projected to increase marginally to €184.1 in the 26/27 season.
So, the likely question – are the football media rights value plateauing? The numbers would suggest that although rights values are not increasing at the rate it experienced earlier, but it does signify two key things:
- Rights value is dependent on the strength of the property.
- There is a structural shift in sports media consumption, and this will determine the value in future.
Strategy Redrawn
The media rights sales process of key football properties seems to suggest a certain pattern, although it’s too early to draw any conclusions. The emphasis, based on the shift in football media consumption, is not just to broadcast live matches but to create a ‘content ecosystem’ serving the best for the IP in that market. It’s best understood by a few examples:
FIFA World Cup 2026:
The first strategical shift is approaching distribution deals on a market-to-market basis instead of a flat territory basis presumably for a better valuation. FIFA pegged the broadcast income at a solid $3.9bn which is 44% of the total WC revenue and 15% over 2022 Qatar World Cup media rights revenue. FIFA secured agreements in over 220 territories worldwide which includes a mix of traditional large broadcast partners and new players including local streamers. The difficult North American time zone for many continents, however, ended up giving a mixed-bag results in deals.
In Asia, where most matches take place in the middle of the night, the total number of regional partnership agreements plummeted from 60 down to 24 but the number of single-country buyers up from 35 to 51 but at a much lower price in two key markets – India and China, resulting in almost $300mn less than projected:
- China Media Group (CMG) operated state-owned broadcaster CCTV, secured the rights reportedly at one-fifth of the asking price with FIFA’s expectation of $300mn reduced to $60mn only for the 2026 World Cup.
- Quite a similar story in India with asking price as high as $100mn which ultimately got sold at $30mn, starkly contrasting 2022 Qatar edition’s rights value of $60mn.
Contrastingly, in Latin America and the Caribbean, where match times are ideal for viewers, the total number of broadcast deals rose by 18%.
The other strategic shift seen in the sales process is the increase in number of streaming platforms for the rights, including Brazil and Japan, compared to the historically one-or-two-partner model.
Champions League:
In a bold attempt to not only maintain the key status of broadcast rights revenue but to increase it, UEFA and its new commercial rights partner, Relevent Spots, unleashed a makeover of the existing media rights strategy by breaking the larger territory market sales to individual. The result – according to Bloomberg, UEFA’s new broadcast deals in 19 global markets, spanning Europe and the Americas, including rights to UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Conference League competitions, will pull in approximately $5.9bn per year between 2027 and 2031, up by an estimated 40%. The factors here:
- Designing packages to attract both traditional broadcasters and streaming platforms which covers more than just the live matches and create a whole content ecosystem.
- Invite bidding in simultaneous markets appealing to both, global and local players, including streamers.
On top of that, in Asia, UEFA has firmed up plans to launch a direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service offering live games from the Champions League as early as 2027.
Premier League:
Over the last cycle, Premier League’s international media rights value has overshadowed its domestic value, and this is expected to continue. In such a positive scenario, Premier League announced launching if its DTC service in Singapore. It is not a question of higher value here, but it’s more structural shift combining multiple necessities based on football media consumption patterns under one initiative.
Priced at S$44pm for live coverage of all 380 Premier League matches along with games from FA Cup and season-opening Community Shield compared to the existing S$40.74 for a Premier League-only pass on Starhub while Singtel customers must fork out S$69.90 (US$54.59) for the Premier League and the FA Cup, there certainly is a price advantage, but more importantly, it is the control on creative outputs, storytelling, owning its customers and a learning ground for future.
Bundesliga: In a newly revamped media strategy for its international markets, Bundesliga adopted a series of interesting media rights deals across China, Brazil and the UK having a mix of YouTubers like Mark Goldbridge, streaming platforms and linear channels. This was done after a strategic market-by-market analysis undertaking extensive research into each market identifying key trends and analysing market data before selecting the right partner.
In Conclusion
It can be argued that stagnation of media rights values is not a generic statement but a dynamic one. The market-led structural changes in the media sales process for stronger football sporting properties are being adapted to remain ahead of the curve and continue to occupy prime revenue contributor. At the same time, properties who have limited reach and consumption will have to conduct a fresh thinking before it is too late.
