Spurs v fiorentina is huge for the purposes of this.

Question to all...

Does anyone know when the next tv rights of champion league are submitted this year..?

There are rumours UEFA will revert back to old model of making sure 1 live champions league game is back on terrestrial tv...?

Please advise who will be bidding...?

Will Sky come back hard for the new champion league tv rights for season 2018-2021...?

How long does this take before bids are awarded...?

I much preferred the old system of Sky / ITV mixture,looks like we are stuck with the current BT option for the next couple of years

Will Sky Bid high next time is the big question,I don't think they will ?


from here
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...strial-7736565

Yes saw that press coverage... was hoping something new news had come out since as that is 3 months old

There is nothing to 'revert' to!
UEFA will sell the rights to the highest bidder, thats it!
If BT come in and bid the highest again then thats where the rights will go, if they come in with a FTA partner then you may get a free game but i don't expect BT will and frankly, Sky won't either as they decided against going with ITV to bid for the rights and Sky have massive problems as it is with the huge cost they paid for the Premier League rights so BT i honestly think will remain the home of the UCL and UEL

I strongly believe because of the low ratings on BT took place the season gone, the wide pool of large viewing audience that UEFA must grant (to all the advertising companies) who have paid bucket loads for their name to be visible, that is only justified to wider audience & that only occurs on terrestrial tv hence itv will definitely get the live 1st pick British team every group game to all the way to semi final & also the final will be free & live on itv..

Re: sky's massive problems

Sky will more that easily compensate / generate funds to secure champions league tv rights for the next cycle. Sky will lose rights to other sports (already have for English ashes tour series in Australia for the next 3-5 years to save money & start increasing the saving pot to bid for the champions league tv rights.

For sky football is a must, sky have to ensure they retain fans therefore sky will pay over the odds to secure rights to champions league. Had sky been allowed to re-bid (like premiership tender bidding takes place to 2nd time around), then sky would have easily overpaid £300m currently BT are paying per season for champions league.

Sky will compensate other sport rights like rugby, to get champions league tv rights back..

Again, with respect as I can see you're a new poster, go back through this thread (and others) and you will find some very intelligent discussion regarding this. The question of placating advertisers has been discussed at length, with a really good risposte from mlt11 (and others) providing a counter viewpoint.

I'm not trying to discourage you from posting in this thread (or others) but it seems silly if we all launch into the same discussion we had only weeks / months ago when no circumstances have changed.

It really depends on UEFA. They have sold the new Nations league 'the new internationals version' to SKY. A combined SKY/ITV would make sense but I won't hold my breath.

A revamp of the competition may entice a bidding war.

And its something the tournament needs. Far too stale now.

Stale or invisible?

The amount that all of the Champions League sponsors pay is less than the difference between what Sky and ITV were jointly paying, and what BT is currently paying, so even if UEFA lost all its sponsors, it is still making more money from BT.

What is wrong with the current format? I don't get this argument. Okay big teams likely get through the groups but the talks of things like less 'smaller' nation champions etc is very wrong. Makes it a mockery of a Champions League further.

We have a group phase which most seasons provides a minor shock or two (Liverpool doing poorly a couple of seasons back, Juve knocked out too v Galatasaray 2-3 years ago also). Then you get the nitty gritty from Last 16. Only thing I'd change is the country protection in the last 16. Get rid of that.

Uefa have this habit of making change for changes sake sometimes. The mixbag of the 2nd group stage patter back in the day was a mess. Then the system we've had now since mid 2000s which has been fairly settled.

You look at the Euro's - 1992 it was an 8 team tournament. 6 tournaments later in 2016 it is now 24 teams and in 2020 it is being hosted in every European country under the sun.

The group stages feel like you are just going through the motions, and the knockout stages feature the same match ups every single year.
Apart from that its fine.

Invisible in that so few people seem to be watching the BT offering, even on their FTA channel.

I think there'll be a revamp in the coming seasons. It hasn't helped that there's been talk of an exclusive super league, so the idea won't go away. The big clubs want to maximise their profits, so UEFA will appease them by making tweaks. And I'm sure the Italian and Spanish clubs won't be too happy about their TV deals compared to the English.

Let's not forget why the group stages and seeds were utilised in the first place, to appease the TV companies. It needs freshening up, how many Olympiakos and Arsenal meetings can one really take? The competition doesn't get going until the knockouts but even that has an air of staleness about it. I'd personally would prefer the pre-1992 format, but with ratings and revenue mattering there's no chance UEFA would be happy seeing Barcelona knocked out in December.

I'd expect Sky to bid for the rights but I'm not sure that ITV would.

The teams playing the same teams has something to do with seedings and so much country and draw protection. That is the only thing needing fixing. Group stages you say are predictable etc - there is still usually a team that 'should' make it that doesn't.

It's the fact that it's 6 group games that makes it so dull. It just drags on forever. The last 16 is also dragged out as they split it up over 4 separate weeks. That's when the format really became stale for me. Even changing that back would be a huge improvement. The same match ups year after year is the other issue. How many times do we have to watch Arsenal get beaten in the last 16 by Barca or Bayern? It's just the same story year after year.

A rule where you can't be drawn against the same team you played in last years group stage/round of 16 might mix it up a bit...whilst making the draw a logistical nightmare!

Of course, as soon as Sky/ITV get it back it will miraculously have improved.

LOL, This, totally!!

There's simply too many teams in it, I'm old school and think it should be what it's called and just be a competition between countries league champions. I'm also a realist though and there's no chance that will ever happen again, too much of a money spinner these days.

Anyway I'd be surprised if it didn't go back to shared coverage between FTA and a sub based provider next time, the sponsors can't have been happy about the viewing figures.

How about a joint BT and dare I say it, BBC bid.
Now that would send the media and this thread into orbit

Aside from that, has UEFA ever actually said anything about viewing figures ?
I can't see them doing anything but whoever bids the most......

2nd Qualifying Round, 1st leg:
12/07 19:00 S4C The New Saints v APOEL FC

Will any of the following be on British/Irish TV?
12/07 19:00 Lincoln Red Imps v Celtic FC
13/07 19:00 Crusaders FC v FC København
13/07 19:45 Dundalk FC v FH Hafnarfjördur

Celtic might be picked up by either BBC Scotland or Premier Sports.