Kieran Maguire: Liverpool to cash in as ‘surprise’ £122m-a-year-plus deal imminent
Liverpool will reap the rewards when Uefa secures an upswing on its £122m-a-year USA Champions League deal – but do not expect to see huge gains.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the auction for the broadcast privileges across the pond.
As relayed by Sports Business on Monday (11 June), the media sale has now gone to tender through sports agency Relevant.
They will sell the rights to broadcast the Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League, and other affiliated Uefa club packages for the 2024-27 cycle.
The current deal is worth around £122m per season, and that helped Liverpool bag £266.1m in media income for the last financial year on record in 2020-21.
Maguire anticipates that the numbers will increase in the new auction, although he pointed out that it may “surprise” people to learn that it will not be by a dramatic amount.
“It’s always difficult to estimate because you have to look at timings,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“Champions League matches go out at the US at around midday or 3.00pm if you look at the different timezones. So, they are not likely to be as big as some people anticipate because a lot of the audience is at work.
“The numbers will be higher than before but people will be surprised to know that the US is not one of the major markets.
“That is why the clubs who were behind the Super League wanted big matches at weekends because that would have tapped into the market in the US.”
In other news, Roberto Firmino tipped by pundit to sign two-year deal amid “100%” Liverpool reveal.