In a move that has "shocked U.S. media companies," Turner Sports has "picked up the U.S. English-language media rights to the UEFA Champions League" starting in fall '18, according to sources cited by John Ourand in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Turner, which has "not carried soccer programming of any kind for at least 27 years, was a surprise bidder and aggressively committed" more than $60M per year as part of a "three-year deal that runs through the spring" of '21, largely taking over a package that Fox Sports has held for nine years. Turner will be "joined by Univision, which agreed to pay" around $35M per year for the Spanish-language rights, "giving UEFA a haul of close" to $100M per year for the U.S. rights. That is a "massive increase for UEFA, which currently brings in" around $50M per year for both English- and Spanish-language rights from Fox. Turner "outbid two networks -- Fox and NBC -- that have made huge investments in the sport over the past decade." Additionally, ESPN did "not submit a formal bid." Instead, BAMTech "submitted a bid believed to be" in the $35M per year range that would have "placed the tournament’s biggest games on ESPN’s TV channels and made most of them available on an over-the-top service." It is "not clear where Turner will carry the Champions League games on television," but it is "certain to place the games on one of its cable channels: TBS, TNT or truTV." Turner’s interest in the deal also "could be rooted in its digital aspirations, especially since most Champions League games are midweek contests played in Europe’s prime time -- which is afternoon in the United States when most people are at work" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/27 issue).
