TV rights, explained

In one lineMost top competitions sell broadcast rights as one package and share the money through formulas that mix equal shares with rewards for results and popularity.

What “TV rights” are

Media rights, often called TV rights, are permissions to show football. They cover live matches, delayed broadcasts, highlights and short clips, on television, streaming services, radio and phones.

A competition organiser splits these rights into packages, sometimes called lots. A package might be “the first pick of weekend matches” or “highlights in one country”. Broadcasters bid for packages, usually for several seasons at a time.

For most big clubs, the money from these packages is one of their largest sources of income.

Collective or individual selling

There are two basic ways to sell.

• Individual selling. Each club sells the rights to its own home matches.
• Collective selling, also called central selling. The league sells the rights to the whole competition, then shares the money between the clubs.

Collective selling offers broadcasters one complete product. It also lets the league decide how the money is shared, which can narrow the gap between rich and poor clubs.

But collective selling means clubs stop competing with each other to sell rights. In the European Union that raises competition law questions, and the European Commission has set conditions more than once:

• In July 2003 it cleared UEFA’s new way of selling Champions League rights. The live rights were split into more than one package, and clubs could market some rights themselves.
• In March 2006 it made the Premier League’s commitments legally binding until June 2013. The key one was a ”no single buyer” rule: one broadcaster could not buy all the live packages.

Spain: the move to central selling

Until 2015, Spanish clubs sold their rights one by one. The home club held the rights to each match, but needed the visiting club’s consent.

Royal Decree-Law 5/2015 of 30 April changed that. Clubs still own the rights, but taking part in a national competition now means handing the power to sell them jointly to the organiser: LaLiga for the league, and the Spanish football federation (RFEF) for the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa.

The decree also sets rules for the sale:

• Sales must follow a public, transparent and competitive process.
• The national competition authority, the CNMC, reports on the sale conditions before they are approved.
• In the Spanish market, one buyer may not hold exclusive rights to more than two packages, unless a package draws no other bidder or equivalent offer.

How the money is shared in Spain

The decree fixes the main split of league TV income:

1. 90% goes to the first division and 10% to the second.
2. In the first division, 50% is shared equally.
3. The other 50% is split in two:
   • Sporting results. Final positions over the last five seasons, with the most recent season weighted most heavily (35%).
   • Social implantation. This measures a club’s following. One third is based on average season-ticket and ticket income over five seasons. Two thirds is based on the club’s share in generating the money from TV broadcasts.
4. A cap on the gap. The highest earner in a division may receive no more than 4.5 times the lowest. As total income rises above €1bn, the cap tightens, reaching 3.5 times at €1.5bn or more.

Clubs then pass set percentages of what they receive to wider football and sport. These include 2.5% to a fund for relegated clubs, 1% to LaLiga to promote the competition, 2% to the federation for amateur football and its facilities, and further amounts to the national sports council, the CSD.

England: the Premier League model

The Premier League also sells centrally. The formula it published for 2018/19 split UK broadcast money three ways:

International broadcast income and central commercial income were shared equally. In June 2018 clubs agreed a change from 2019/20: existing levels of international income stay equal, but any increase is shared by league position. A cap keeps the top club’s total central payment at no more than 1.8 times the lowest club’s.

Facility fees are the clearest “audience” element. They reward the clubs broadcasters choose to show most.

Europe: UEFA’s three pillars

UEFA sells rights to its club competitions centrally too. For the 2024-27 cycle, it sets money aside before paying participating clubs. For 2026/27, after organising costs, 7% of gross revenue goes to clubs that do not reach the league phase, as solidarity payments paid through national associations, and 3% to clubs in the qualifying rounds. Of the net revenue left, 93.5% goes to participating clubs and 6.5% stays with UEFA for European football.

The Champions League share is then split into three pillars:

• Equal shares (starting fee): 27.5%. Every club in the league phase gets the same amount; for 2026/27, UEFA set it at €18.62m.
• Performance-related amounts: 37.5%. Money for wins, draws, final league-phase ranking and each knockout round reached.
• Value pillar: 35%. This replaced the old market pool and coefficient payments. Its European part ranks clubs by combining the size of their home country’s TV market with their five-year UEFA coefficient, a ranking based on past results. Its non-European part uses a ten-year coefficient ranking.

The Europa League uses the same three pillars and the same percentages, with smaller amounts. The Conference League splits its money 40% equal shares, 40% performance and 20% value.

Domestic and international rights

Domestic rights cover the competition’s home country. International rights cover the rest of the world and are usually sold territory by territory, or through agencies.

The two markets can follow different rules. Spain’s decree, for example, requires the conditions for international sales to be published and reviewed by the CNMC. The Premier League shares the two income streams in different ways, as shown above.

Piracy: the threat to the system

Piracy here means showing matches without permission, usually through illegal live streams. Because broadcasters pay for exclusive access, illegal streams reduce what that access is worth. Over time, that can reduce what leagues earn and share with clubs.

Two responses are common:

• Court blocking orders. In March 2017, England’s High Court ordered major internet providers to block servers streaming Premier League matches without permission. The order worked only while matches were live, and the list of servers was reset each match week.
• EU guidance. On 4 May 2023 the European Commission recommended faster handling of reports about illegal live streams and the use of dynamic injunctions: court orders that can be updated to cover new sources. It also urged attractive legal offers for viewers, and stressed that measures must respect fundamental rights.

Where to go next

• How clubs make money puts broadcast income next to matchday and commercial income.
• Football’s spending rules shows how that income limits squad spending.
• Sponsorship, explained covers the other half of the commercial picture.