16/03/2025
UEFA Scores Major Marketing Rights Deal
This week’s key terms/concepts:
• Commercial Rights: The legal control over various rights of commercial nature, including broadcasting, advertising and sponsorship rights.
• Intellectual Property (IP) Law: The area of law focused on protecting and establishing intellectual creations, including trademarks, copyrights and patents.
• Monopoly: A market in which a single company or entity holds exclusive control over a product or service, significantly reducing competition.
Football organisation UEFA has granted significant rights to US agency Relevent Sports in a major 6-year partnership deal that will enable them marketing rights worldwide from 2027 to 2033. The deal includes the organisation’s commercial rights for all UEFA men’s club competitions, including the UEFA Champions League which is the largest European club competition.
Why is this important?
The agency previously made a deal with UEFA to market their competitions in the US since 2022, and this new deal will see a global expansion of their rights, with a UEFA spokesperson estimates that the expected revenue arising from the deal will amount to roughly €4.4 billion annually. The deal is also set to mark the end of a 35-year partnership between UEFA and Swiss agency Team Marketing.
Relevent Sports’ management rights from the deal demonstrate an increasing role that US companies are having in European sports competitions, and the deal is expected to have a significant impact on American viewership. This follows a similar trend of European and US sports taking place overseas- England’s top football division, the Premier League, partakes in a pre-season competition in America, whilst US basketball organisation NBA hosts games in France annually.
What does this mean for the legal sector?
The deal may lead to concerns regarding competition law. Relevent Sports currently holds substantial media rights in other domestic football leagues, including the Premier League and Germany’s Bundesliga, as well as Relevent’s owner controlling the promoter of Formula One’s Miami Grand Prix and NFL team Miami Dolphins. Regulatory authorities in both Europe and the US are likely to examine the UEFA agreement and any further developments to prevent potential monopolistic practices.
Intellectual property (IP) and branding rights are also likely to be a key area of contention. As UEFA’s brand likeness and marketing is central to the deal, legal advice may be required to ensure compliance with UEFA’s IP protections and effectively navigate complex licensing agreements.
Relevent will continue to operate on behalf of UEFA solely in the US until 2027, when the new deal commences.
Lex Weekly 