UEFA’s Champions League commercial revenues will top $1.6 billion for each of the next three seasons. Not a small amount. UEFA will also earn commercial revenues of at least $1.6 billion for the 16-team Euro tournament in Poland and Ukraine.
That’s $1.6 billion for a three weeks event. That’s pretty amazing.
I have to say that even though I hate national team football, the Euros and the World Cups are extremely interesting because of an excellent and dynamic model: Group stages that only have one game between each competitor and a single-game knock-out stage – all played over a short period of time – is a great way to ensure that every major football tournament will be a treat for every football fan around the world.
In Euro every game is crucial. Each game is a shot of pure adrenaline, featuring countries with millions of fans. These are the reasons why 150m people, on average, will watch each game in this year’s Euro, despite the low quality of football and the knackered players.
This model brings football action to its peak, and it’s much better than the sometimes tasteless,– almost chewing-gum like the Champions League’s structure of a longer group stage along with two games in each knock-out round.
Uefa knows how to make a lot of money out of Euro, they should now see how they can apply some of the elements that make Euro so exciting to Champions League football and make a lot more than $1.6 billion from it.
WHAT TO DO NOW?