MediaTalk | Season 3 | Ep. 24 - How Digital Platforms Are Shaping the Future of Soccer Broadcasting

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Mike Reynolds: Hi, I'm Mike Reynolds, a senior reporter covering the media industry with the S&P Global Market Intelligence tech, media and telecom news team. Welcome to "MediaTalk," a podcast hosted by S&P Global, where the news and research staff explore issues in the evolving media landscape. Today, I'm joined by S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan research analyst Richard Berndes, who is based in our London office. Last August, Richard and his twin boys, Dexter and Seb, joined us to preview the 2024-25 Premier League season. This time, it's just the two of us, and we're going to focus on several key soccer events this summer: the FIFA Club World Cup, the Women's Euros, and the CONCACAF Gold Cup. How are you doing, Richard?

Richard Berndes: Yeah, it's great to be with you again, Mike.

Reynolds: Alright, but before we discuss those three tournaments, I want to give Richard a chance to commemorate a result near and dear to his and his family's hearts. Trumpets are sounding for Tottenham, Richard.

Berndes: Yes, Mike. Yeah, my beloved Tottenham Hotspurs won a trophy for the first time in 17 years last week, and the first European trophy in 41 years. So it's great to call the mighty Tottenham Hotspurs the European champions.

Reynolds: And there's an added bonus with that.

Berndes: Yes, we won the Europa League, and so that now qualifies us to play in the Champions League next season. Hopefully, we'll be signing some suitable players to go deep in that competition. Looking forward to it.

Reynolds: Alright, congrats to Tottenham and its supporters, notably Richard, Dexter, Seb, and the rest of the family. Let's turn to what is, in effect, a new tournament: the FIFA Club World Cup. Richard, can you tell us about this event and how it's shaping up in 2025?

Berndes: Yeah, it's not really a new event as such, Mike. It's been going on for quite a few seasons. It's certainly been repackaged, repolished, and presented as a sort of shiny tournament. There'll be 32 teams this season, and in terms of location, it's Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey. Essentially, what it is, is 32 teams from the different international federations around the world. So there'll be Asia, Central America, North America, South America, Oceania, and Europe. In terms of the teams, there are some big hitters from Europe: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea, Inter Milan, the new European champions, PSG, among others. From North America, we're seeing Montreal, Seattle Sounders, and Pumas from Mexico. From Africa, we have Al Ahly and Casablanca, among others. And there is also a special invitation for Inter Miami.

Reynolds: Exactly, so Messi and the guys are going to be playing.

Berndes: Definitely. I think it'll make an interesting spin on the event.

Reynolds: What's the coverage like in the UK and Europe for this event?

Berndes: It's being covered exclusively by DAZN Group ltd., the streamer. They seem to have done a global deal, and it's a very interesting one. DAZN has a few footholds in soccer here in Europe with Italy, the Champions League, and a few other tournaments. But it's a global package. It just sends another signal to me how these big streamers are now getting involved in live sports. They've seen it works, they've seen the audience it delivers, and that unique audience. So you're seeing DAZN, Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. all getting involved in live soccer.

Reynolds: I gotcha. Here in the States, though, DAZN is sublicensing some English-language broadcast rights to TNT Sports for, I guess, 24 of the matches, including the group knockout stage and the final across TNT (US), TBS (US) and truTV (US). TelevisaUnivision is the Spanish-language player on TV as broadcast networks Univision (US) and UniMás (US), and their dedicated sports channel will broadcast 18 matches, including a couple from Inter Miami and Real Madrid, and one from Atlético Madrid. They're going to have coverage of the important matches at the end of the tournament.

Berndes: There's been a fair bit of controversy attached to the event, with dissent from some of the European teams because it's just like another tournament impacting the end of the season, which could affect the players' performance going ahead. They're playing another month after the end of a season. So there are elements of that. But at the same time, a lot of these big clubs go on worldwide promotional tours anyway, so there's an element of controversy, but it's the sort of thing they'd be doing anyway.

Reynolds: In its previous incarnations, it was champions of the different confederations, a much broader and deeper field this time. This is a big moment for FIFA, trying to play harder in the club realm. Richard?

Berndes: Yeah, definitely. In terms of prize money, it's been said there's a billion dollars in prize money split between the 32 teams. Okay. And 125 million for the winners. By comparison, to win the Champions League, the winners get 25 million. But there are some bonus payments on the way to that. But outside that, the way I see it is FIFA very much has run international soccer. So they do the World Cup and the national teams. What we're seeing here is this is purely club football, and it's a chance for FIFA to get involved in club football, which they've never done before. And with these tournaments like the World Cup, they generally raise some of them, the reason of $6 billion. But outside that four-year cycle, they don't really raise much revenue. And this could be an opportunity for FIFA to raise some substantial revenue every year to add to their coffers. That's how I potentially see this playing out. FIFA looking to raise revenue and also get a toe into world club football.

Reynolds: Okay. We'll see how it works out, and maybe they'll do an equivalent with the women going forward too.

Berndes: It could be inevitable, Mike. It will be inevitable. You had listed the cities involved. So this is also a trial run for that little tournament next summer, right?

Berndes: Definitely, you can see this being a really big moment for soccer in the US. Obviously, as you mentioned, Mike, you've got the actual Men's World Cup next summer, which is arguably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, sporting events in the world. You can just see this being a trial run for broadcasters, fans, and sponsors to just see how the US and obviously the US partners, Canada and Mexico next year, will be putting on a great event.

Reynolds: Okay. Looking at the matches and the clubs, Richard, what's your sense? Who's going to make a deep run here in this FIFA event?

Berndes: Without sounding too jingoistic, you can't really see much past the traditional big European hitters of Real Madrid, obviously the new European champions, PSG, Bayern Munich, Manchester City. But you never know. Inter Miami, depending on the climate, you could see some of these teams more at home in these weather conditions going deeper. And it's been a long season for a lot of these big clubs. So if you know a lot of teams are a lot fresher out the gate, you never know. It's tournament football, and sometimes you need a bit of luck, and it can go a long way. A little bit like Tottenham this season.

Reynolds: So hot and humid might be a key here. We will see. Let's switch gears a little bit. We'll go to the Women's Euros, which will take place in Switzerland. I don't think it's hot and humid there very often, but I may be wrong about that. The tournament is taking place from July 2 through 27. The host nation is going to be joined by 15 other national sides. Richard, give us a sense of how big a deal this is in the UK and on the continent.

Berndes: As we've mentioned before on another podcast, Mike, women's soccer around the globe is getting bigger and bigger, more successful, and more appealing to commercial partners. In terms of how it shapes up, you've got four groups of four teams, and they will go through from that opportunity to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. In terms of the growth of the success of it, the last tournament in 2022 had an adult reach of 27.4 million people, which is a huge number. And if you go back to 2009, the same women's European tournament reached only 2.5 million. Wow. Okay. So you're seeing the growth in the women's game, and you can really see this staying at these levels.

Reynolds: I got you. As you mentioned, interest in the women's game is skyrocketing. England beat Germany last time around. This has been Germany's event forever, right? They've won nine of, was it 14 of these competitions?

Berndes: Yes, that's right. Germany has always been a traditional powerhouse in the soccer world. I think they're probably on the women's global stage only rivaled closely by the very successful US women's team, but they're certainly a powerhouse and they'd always be there or thereabouts. The same with Italy and obviously the current world champion Spain. But hopefully, England will make a decent fist of it for us UK fans.

Reynolds: Talk about the TV. This is on the top networks. You guys have a nice way of phrasing these.

Berndes: Yes. Yeah. A lot of European countries have sports rights that are protected. They are sometimes called the crown jewels, and these events have to be shown on free-to-air TV so everyone can access them. It's the deal normally done via the European Broadcast Union. So for example, here in the UK, these games will be shown on channels like the BBC and ITV, France Television, RTL in France and Germany respectively. So what you're going to be seeing is these games aren't behind a paywall or on streaming. They're going to be on free-to-air TV. So the potential exposure in terms of audiences is huge. And obviously, that's appealing to sponsors and commercial partners.

Reynolds: We were talking about this before, Amazon is trying to get in this in terms of capitalizing on merchandising sales.

Berndes: Yes, this is true. Amazon, you have to take your hats off to it. They've signed up as part of the Amazon's Women's Football Shop, and what they'll be selling on this sort of special portal, whether it be TVs, snacks, drinks, and actual training kit, studs, fan scarves, clappers. So Amazon, again, positions itself with live sport, which they're doing on the back of their other stuff, which they've got, for example, on the Champions League and some of the big international club football like the Europa League. So again, Amazon very much positions itself with live sport, and I think they're very clever in the way they market themselves and cherry-pick the events to be associated with.

Reynolds: In recent weeks, Disney+ inked a deal here for streaming rights to the event. I'm not quite sure. Is it many nations or a handful of nations?

Berndes: My understanding is they've done a deal. Most of these deals for something like the Champions League, one broadcaster will generally have control over the event. So my understanding is Disney+ will be taking control of the European Champions League, which is obviously the women's version of that event. You're going to be seeing the best teams in the genre playing themselves in the ultimate club competition. For Disney, it's another streamer positioning themselves within live sport. I just think it's a very smart move.

Reynolds: I think here in the States, CBS Sports did just grab the rights to the Women's Champions League, the Europa, and a couple of other UEFA events. So they have the men's and women's locked up for the next few years here. But getting back to the Euros, in the States, a big change of foot. Last time around, the tournament was on ESPN's family of networks. This time, Fox Sports is there, and Fox is going all in. Each match window is going to get the Women's Euro Today treatment, featuring at least 30 minutes of pre-match analysis. 19 of the matches are going to be on FOX (US), the broadcast network, another 11 on FOX Sports 1 (US), and one on FOX Sports 2 (US). Chances are there's going to be a big viewership improvement. Last time around, I think the championship match here on ESPN (US) got about 971,000 viewers. Can't imagine that Fox's coverage is not going to dwarf that this time around. We'll see. And then on the Spanish-language side, we have TelevisaUnivision. They were in the mix last time around, and they're going to expand this time. Not only with Univision, UniMás, and TUDN, but they're also going to have ViX, their streaming service, in the mix. No shortage of coverage here in the States for this.

Berndes: As we know, the success of the US National Women's team should reflect well and hopefully draw some audience into the European tournaments.

Reynolds: You mentioned Germany, defending World Cup Champion Spain, Italy. How about the Lady Lionesses or Lady Lions? Richard, how's England going to do this time?

Berndes: We put our belief in them and hopefully they can do some decent things. As we've mentioned, the women's game is really growing. Here in the UK, the Women's Premier League has just secured about six months ago a new deal with Sky Ltd. and the BBC, which is a 63% increase in the value. We're just seeing more and more investment in the women's game here in the UK. So hopefully that will reflect into the national team. Just looking at it from the outside in, in terms of prize money, it's 41 million Euros for the Euros this summer, which is a 156% increase on 2022. It reflects the growth in the women's game in terms of the viewers and the sponsorships, and indeed the Lionesses have been offered a bonus of 1.7 million pounds for the squad if they can make it all the way through to the final. So there's money available for the winning team.

Reynolds: And a little incentive that way too. We're going to move on to the CONCACAF Gold Cup. This is a big event in North America: US, Mexico, Canada, and 12 other CONCACAF clubs and guest nation Saudi Arabia. It's taking place in 14 stadiums across 11 in the US and three in Canadian cities. The event is also from June 14th to Sunday, July 8th. I said a big event here, Richard. What about the Gold Cup in the UK and Europe? What's the reaction and anticipation for that?

Berndes: Yeah, I think it will be a showcase for the competing nations to show their talent. And I think possibly for a lot of the players, it could be an opportunity to pick up some interest from the European leagues. These days, most of the big clubs around the world don't scout within their own countries. They scout around the world. Sure. You've seen some very interesting players coming out of the US. Xavier goes over, for example, and Christian McFarland has been mentioned as players to watch for the future. So I just think there'll definitely be some interest. I think it'll be a new event. Obviously, people are aware of the World Cup next year, and I think also, as we were saying, it's a summer of soccer, and I just think for soccer fans everywhere, the chance to watch some exciting high-quality matches throughout the summer during the off-season will be of great interest.

Reynolds: What's the TV like over there or what's the coverage situation?

Berndes: Yeah. From what I can see, Premier Sports seems to have the coverage here over in Europe and also the CONCACAF streaming service, CONCACAF GO. So it's not got the exposure that the Euros have got in terms of those free-to-air channels, but it's been picked up by some serious sports channels.

Reynolds: Back in the States here, it's on the screens. It'll be on the screens through Fox and TelevisaUnivision. Fox is going to air four games, including two US group stage matches: the first against Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, June 15th. Fox will also air its final Group D game stage match on Sunday, June 22nd against Haiti. All told, Fox Sports 1 will air 24 Gold Cup matches while FS2 has three. TelevisaUnivision plays this big. There are going to be 17 matches on its flagship broadcast network, Univision, starting with the tournament opener pitting defending champion Mexico versus the Dominican Republic on June 14th. The second broadcast network, UniMás, will have 12 games, and then there will also be matches on TUDN and ViX. A lot of coverage, I think the idea here is that people are going to be disappointed on all sides and for different reasons if it's not Mexico and the US in the final, or at least Canada. If you go back to the 2023 Gold Cup, Mexico over Panama had 4.3 million viewers on Univision, and I think about 1.1 million on Fox. If you went back to the prior Gold Cup, US vs. Mexico, two years before that, there were 5.7 million on Univision and 1.8 million on Fox. I think people would like to see it go that way. It's also a situation where if, in fact, the US and Mexico make deep runs, good opportunities for tournament sponsors, for exposure for Modelo beer, Hilton Hotels, Toyota, Valvoline, New Water, Molten, which is the official ball for CONCACAF, and a handful of Saudi-based businesses. Richard, what's your take on what might take place here? Is it just Mexico and the US or any sense for anybody else that might be able to break through?

Berndes: I think you can't really see much past the US, Mexico, and possibly Canada, all of which have got some really strong players. It'll be a shame because from what I understand, Christian Pulisic, who plays for AC Milan, won't be playing for the US, right? So that would be a big miss for them. But I don't think we can underestimate the success and the appeal that the MLS has had in the US with Mr. Messi driving that. I think there's been so much more interest and growth, and therefore there'll be interest and appeal in what's happening in this Gold Cup. I think it's a real opportunity for the whole North American continent to embrace it in preparation for next year. So I can only see things moving in a higher direction. And again, a strong showing from those home nations will help drive that home. I think the people behind it now, Mauricio Pochettino, the US coach, is a great player, great manager, an Argentinian success story. I think he brings some real talent and expertise. He has a very unique way of playing high press, high entertaining, high scoring approach.

Reynolds: Let's hope that is in fact the case. That concludes this episode of "MediaTalk." I want to thank Richard for sharing his vast soccer knowledge with us, and congrats again on Tottenham, Richard.

Berndes: Thank you, Mike.

Reynolds: This is Mike Reynolds. Thanks to all of you for listening. Enjoy the summer of soccer. We'll catch up soon on the next installment of "MediaTalk."