February 12 – New York-based Relevent Sports has long seen itself as a disruptor in world football, and now they have officially hit ‘pay-dirt’ after overcoming rival bidders to earn an exclusive negotiation period to secure the global commercial sales rights to UEFA’s men’s club competitions.
The rights period covers the 2027-2033 six-year cycle. The rights tender process is being led by UC3, the joint venture company of UEFA and the European Club Association (ECA).
UEFA said the tender “attracted bids from a number of global and regional agencies.”
The big losers in this announcement are the Swiss agency, TEAM Marketing, who have handled the rights for UEFA for the last 35 years and were the originators of the Champions League having convinced UEFA of the opportunity a revamp of their club competitions represented.
“Naturally we are disappointed, but we remain incredibly proud of the work we have done alongside UEFA over the past 35 years,” TEAM said in a statement from its base in Lucerne.
“Together, we have built a world-class commercial program that has delivered over €50 billion ($52 billion) in revenue for European club football.”
Relevent Sports Group is owned by Stephen Ross, the billionaire real estate mogul and owner of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Ross is also the founder of RSE Ventures, the majority owner of Relevent Sports Group.
The company has long had eyes on bringing international club football to the United States and in 2022 struck a Champions League deal with UEFA. Relevent has been involved with a long-standing legal action against FIFA to try to stage national league games from Europe in the U.S. That case was settled last April and weeks later FIFA said it would review rules blocking so-called “out-of-territory” games.
With Relevent now in pole position to be the sales agent for UEFA men’s club competitions, including the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and the Super Cup, speculation will likely begin about hosting one of these finals on US shores.
The next available Champions League final for UEFA to seek bidders to host is the title match of the 2027-28 season.
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1739339786labto1739339786ofdlr1739339786owedi1739339786sni@o1739339786fni1739339786