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Harri Burton

Fri 29 May 2026 12:15, UK

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Keir Starmer should focus on more important matters after calling for the Champions League final between PSG and Arsenal to be shown for free.

That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that TNT Sports’ contract may prevent them from streaming the game on YouTube, as done in previous seasons.

Ahead of the final on Saturday, 30 May, the Prime Minister pointed out that this will be the first season that football fans won’t be able to watch on for free, urging TNT Sports to “reconsider” their stance.

But it may not be as simple as flicking a switch, and Borson believes that it’s now too late to make the change, despite Starmer’s pleas to make Arsenal’s Champions League final free-to-watch.

Keir Starmer’s Arsenal pleas likely to fall upon deaf ears

Starmer has claimed that hard-working football fans shouldn’t have to “fork out” to watch the Champions League final, with his post via X gaining a lot of traction ahead of the game this weekend.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson discussed why TNT Sports may not be allowed to show the Champions League final for free, remaining unimpressed by the Prime Minister’s comments.

“Well, they paid for it. The reason they’re not doing it is that they paid for exclusive rights, and they probably think it’s not their business to be giving it away,” Borson said.

“In fact, they may not be able to. It may well be within the contract that they don’t have the rights to publish it without subscription. Putting that to one side, they probably think it’s for your effort to decide what to do with the rights with their consent as opposed to the way around.

“It looks a bit late now anyway, doesn’t it? I mean, if they were going to do it, they’d already caved in. I don’t really like the politicians moving very fast on something like this when there’s a million other things that they’re pretty slow about.

“It doesn’t seem like the biggest issue in the world, and I doubt that there is a single person who wants to watch the game who will not be able to watch it. We know the way these things work.

“We know that people will find a way to see the game. So it’s a bit of a fuss about nothing, but should it be one of the protective events that’s always on free? I guess it has been on free before, but not because it was a protected event.

“It’s this constant battle between the commercial deal that’s been done and people just wanting entry for cheaper, wanting subscriptions cheaper, wanting the best products on the pitch at the same time, wanting all the revenue. You can’t really have it both ways.

“If you want to take the revenue, you have to accept that the broadcaster that’s paying for it is getting some level of exclusivity. Otherwise, the value of those rights obviously falls.”

PSG vs Arsenal: How to watch, kick-off time, team news

Fans will be able to watch the final between PSG and Arsenal on TNT Sports 1, as well as on Amazon Prime with a subscription, with the game kicking off at 5:00pm BST.

Of course, it will not be free-to-watch on YouTube like other years, which is a huge disappointment for many.

There is hope for the Gunners that Jurrien Timber could return from injury, but given that he’s been sidelined since March, a start for the right-back is unlikely.

Noni Madueke is understood to be fit and ready despite picking up an injury against Crystal Palace, while the big news at PSG is over whether Ousmane Dembele will recover in time.

Achraf Hakimi could hand the Ligue 1 giants a major boost, having not appeared since the nine-goal thriller against Bayern Munich, though Mikel Arteta will definitely be without Ben White.