Europe’s top clubs are pushing for radical changes to the Champions League in order to secure more funds to offset the financial dominance of the Premier League.
Clubs particularly in Italy and Spain are pushing for changes that would involve more matches between top teams. They argue that this could be more lucrative in terms of commercial and media revenue.
Europe’s top clubs are pushing for radical changes to the Champions League in order to secure more funds to offset the financial dominance of the Premier League.
Clubs particularly in Italy and Spain are pushing for changes that would involve more matches between top teams. They argue that this could be more lucrative in terms of commercial and media revenue.
Next year nearly all Premier League clubs will earn at least £100m from its £5.1bn deal with BT and Sky. In addition, they will benefit from overseas television deals, some of which are still being negotiated, worth up to £3bn. Only three clubs outside England – Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus – earned more than £100m in television revenues in the 2013-14 season.
German clubs may be the closest to catching up with the Premier League. There is an upcoming auction for the broadcasting rights for the Bundesliga for four years starting in 2017. It is predicted that the German auction will achieve between €3.6bn and €4.4bn, making it the second largest television rights deal in Europe.
Among the proposals is for an early knockout round with 16 seeded teams playing against 16 other teams. The winners would then go into two groups at eight teams. Each of these teams would play each other home and away, guaranteeing 14 matches and more clashes between the bigger clubs. However, smaller nations object to a proposal that could result in their teams being eliminated at an earlier stage.
Another proposal is a ‘wild card’ entry for top ‘brands’ like Manchester United. This would be based on performance in previous tournaments. This year that would have helped United and AC Milan.
Another suggestion is that matches should be switched to the weekends which would better serve Asian audiences. However, this proposal is opposed by the Premier League.
In 2014-15 each of the 32 teams gained €8.6m for qualifying for the competition. Further prize money is allocated according to performance. Barcelona gained €27.8m in prize money for winning last year’s competition.