Champions League in women's European soccer moves to pay-TV in 5-year deal with Disney+
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — The Women's Champions League in European soccer will go mostly behind a paywall for the next five seasons on Disney+ in a deal announced by UEFA's joint venture with top clubs on Friday.
The final on Saturday between defending champion Barcelona and Arsenal in Lisbon completes a four-year broadcast deal where fans could watch games for free on streaming service DAZN and YouTube.
The Women's Champions League is expanding next season to 18 teams from 16, in a single league standings instead of groups before the knockout stage. A second tier Women's Europa Cup also will launch.
'The five-year deal will ensure that each of the 75 matches in the newly expanded (Champions League) is available to Disney+ customers in Europe at no additional cost,' said UC3, the commercial partnership between UEFA and the European Club Association.
Broadcasts will be produced by Disney-owned ESPN with 'multilingual commentary and comprehensive pre- and post-match programming,' the UC3 statement said.
The broadcast strategy through 2030 will allow one game per match week to be shown on some free-to-air networks and members of the European Broadcasting Union.
Selected games will be shown in countries including France, Germany and Spain, UC3 said.
UEFA has projected total 'competition revenues' of 33.8 million euros ($38.4 million) next season.
A 25 million euros ($28.4 million) subsidy also comes from men's competitions, including the Champions League, and UEFA is contributing more than 11 million euros ($12.5 million).
That should provide a total prize money fund, once running costs are deducted, of 18.2 million euros ($20.6 million) to share among the 18 Women's Champions League teams in each of the next two seasons, UEFA has said.
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