Champions league is a commercial failure

If UEFA want to make more money on a competition that features the most loved brands in the world, they must think about adopting NFL’s model

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The National Football League has ratified this week a new television deals that will generate in excess of US$27 billion over the next nine years. ESPN had previously committed to a new eight-year contract for a further package of games, paying US$1.9 billion annually, while DirecTV pays US$1 billion a year for its Sunday Ticket package.

We are talking about guaranteed TV income of at least US$ 52 dollar over the next decade.

These are agreements which dwarf those in any other sport. They are also a badge of shame for UEFA, which has a mandate over the most popular sports brands in the world but still can’t get a third of what the NFL is getting per year.

Real Madrid are a lot more famous around the world than San Diego Chargers, Manchester United are loved a lot more than Houston Texans and Barcelona are admired globally – unlike any other NFL team.

Arsenal, Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, FC Bayern Munich, Inter, Liverpool are better known brands than San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants and any other NFL team.

However, because of the boring Champions League format – the best teams in Europe are not guaranteed to play each other each season.

TV companies just won’t pay much for a league that 80% of its games are either predictable or a meeting of unknown, unpopular brands – with all due respect to Apoel Nicosia.

If  UEFA and the clubs want to make more money on a competition that features the most loved brands in the world, they must think about adopting NFL’s model.

A format UEFA most consider HERE.

WHAT TO DO NOW?

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4 Comments

  1. COYS added these pithy words on December 16, 2011 | Permalink

    The NFL is popular because it’s open, competitive, and any team can win it – everything the Champions League isn’t.

    How many different NFL winners have their been in comparisson with the Champions League since it was reformatted in 1992.

    People wont pay money for the CL all the while that it is dominated by three or four clubs, as they already know the outcome before a ball is kicked.

    It’s excitement and unpredictability which people pay for, not a Groundhog Day style competition throwing brands against one another every other week of every year. Zzzzzzzz

  2. Ouriel Daskal added these pithy words on December 16, 2011 | Permalink

    If you take a closer look at the suggested format – you will see the European NFL should try to make the competition more open

  3. COYS added these pithy words on December 17, 2011 | Permalink

    “a closed league for four years”

    Sounds far to false and contrived for me. More like WWE wrestling than the NFL.

    It’s one suggestion away from asking players to dress-up in Lycra outfits.

    Anyway, why will supporters continue to pay £30 or £40 per match ticket hoping to see whether their team has qualified for the ECL, when they’ll already know in August before a ball has been kicked. Why not save their money?

    This suggestion will have an adverse effect in attendances as many teams will have nothing to play for.

  4. Wagsforever added these pithy words on February 5, 2012 | Permalink

    @COYS

    “The NFL is popular because it’s open, competitive, and any team can win it – everything the Champions League isn’t.

    How many different NFL winners have their been in comparisson with the Champions League since it was reformatted in 1992.”

    Do you even bother to look it up or are you just presuming this cliché?

    In your defined time limit there have been 13 different super bowl winners and 12 champions league winners.

One Trackback

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    [...] of tomorrow’s Champions League draw, Hoeness barked: “For me this is ridiculous, it is unthinkable. We at Germany paid [...]

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