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European football’s governing body has handed US agency Relevent Sports the rights to market the Uefa Champions League around the world, in a bid to lure new fans with “Olympic-type” promotion for the continent’s premier club football competition.
Relevent Sports, a New York-based media company backed by real estate mogul Stephen Ross, will manage the commercial rights for the Uefa men’s club competitions between 2027 and 2033, expanding the promoter’s current mandate to sell the tournament in the US.
The deal, which also includes the lower-tier Europa League and Conference League tournaments, underlines the growing importance of the American market and mindset to European football. It also ends Uefa’s 35-year partnership with Swiss agency Team Marketing.
Relevent will have an expanded share of one of sport’s most lucrative tournaments through the partnership. The Champions League, which attracted an average live audience of 145mn for its 2024 final, accounts for the bulk of Uefa’s media and commercial rights revenue from men’s club competitions. Uefa is expecting to generate €4.4bn per season between 2024 and 2027, according to a Uefa spokesperson.
Relevent, which is led by chief executive Daniel Sillman, has managed the rights and marketing for Uefa’s men’s club competitions in the US since 2022 and also promotes Spanish league La Liga in North America.
The agency has amassed a lucrative roster of international sports media rights, working with the German Bundesliga and the English Football League on international rights. Ross, its billionaire owner, also owns the promoter of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix and NFL franchise the Miami Dolphins.
The Uefa deal paves the way for the group to overhaul the way the commercial rights are sold, at a time when viewers are watching sport in new ways.
The agency was awarded the contract by UC3 — a partnership between Uefa and the European Club Association — and will work with it to create content packages that work for social media companies, streamers and linear broadcasters, Sillman said.
The deal comes as the rise of digital media groups has challenged the traditional broadcast model. Many domestic European football leagues have seen the value of their media rights deals stagnate or decrease in recent years, in part due to reduced competition among traditional broadcasters.
“We’ve seen [sports] leagues bring in Amazon, Netflix, Apple and Google and YouTube sitting alongside the existing broadcast partners of the league historically, and we’re going to work to find ways to accommodate both to expand the viewer experience and the fan experience,” Sillman said.
He told the Financial Times that high-profile season finales — for the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League — would feel more like “Olympic-type” or Super Bowl events, both in terms of “fan experience” and brand promotion beyond the advertising boards around the pitch. However, he stressed that it was vital to protect the traditions of football.
Despite Relevent’s history of organising pre-season tournaments in America and other overseas markets, Sillman dismissed the idea of staging the Champions League final in the US. “This is not something we’ve discussed. It’s not part of our commercial strategy,” he said.
Relevent, which has offices in Switzerland, will now have the challenge of expanding its staff to handle the rights. Sillman said it was an advantage to build an agency that can embrace the new and evolving media landscape.
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