UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has opened the door to important Champions League games coming to the U.S. in the future. Speaking exclusively with Men in Blazers, the chief of European soccer's governing body refused to reject the idea of UCL matches coming Stateside in years to come.
"It is possible," said Ceferin of the Champions League in America. "We started to discuss about that but then one year it is World Cup, 2024 is Euro, this year is Istanbul, 24 in London, 25 in Munich. And after that let us see. It is possible, it is possible."
The Champions League is the most-watched soccer competition in the world game and the idea of European club playing in the U.S. was first discussed back in 2016.
"Soccer is extremely popular in U.S. these days," Ceferin told Men in Blazers. "Americans are willing to pay this amount (sizeable hand gesture) for best and nothing for the less. So they will follow European soccer as basketball lovers in Europe follow NBA.
"It is a very important promising market for the future. The thing is that we are selling rights very well. Sponsorship is so-so for now from the U.S., but here commercialization completely different than in Europe -- they are much more talented for that than us."
Ceferin recognizes that the U.S. represents major growth opportunities for TV rights in the future and he has previously claimed that UEFA earns more than FIFA with 2023 reports showing $6.9 billion in annual revenue.
"What shocked me actually is that our Euro finals, Europe national team finals, was watched by more people in U.S. than NBA Finals," said the Slovenian. "What shocked me is that 30 matches of the Euros, every match viewership was a Super Bowl viewership. So I think we are doing well.
UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin joined Rog to talk about the future of the Champions League, Super League, and his analysis of the surge in football fandom in the United States.
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"Fans will still think in a way, these bastards in Switzerland, it is all about money, and I repeat thousand times, we redistribute 97% of the money," he said. "Of course, our revenues are huge. I would love them to be much, much bigger than now.
"The problem is that the time difference, because if you play Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 3 p.m. ET, noon in L.A. Pacific part, it is a problem. We would have much bigger viewership if hours will be different."
"The final should be bigger," said Paris Saint-Germain chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi last year on the topic of games going to the U.S. "I cannot understand how the Super Bowl can feel bigger than the Champions League final. The Super Bowl, and the U.S. generally, have this mindset -- creativity and entertainment.
"How do we make the group stages compelling?" added the Qatari supremo who is also Chairman of the European Club Association (ECA). "The time difference is a problem for the U.S. and Asia. So how can we work on this for international rights which have huge potential? We are thinking about all kinds of things -- new venues, new markets, new formats."
The UCL will switch to a 36-team single-league format from 2024 with each club playing 10 first round games with the top eight advancing directly to the knockout phase with playoffs for round of 16 berths between those who finish ranked ninth to 24th.
The 2022 Champions League final between winners Real Madrid and Liverpool at Stade de France brought in a record 2.76 million Anglophone viewers in the U.S. while FIFA 2026 World Cup will be held in the U.S. with Mexico and Canada also hosting some games.
However, not all clubs are onside with UEFA's plans and distribution of Champions League monies with the Union of European Clubs (UEC) launched in Brussels on Monday with the support of a handful of notable Premier League clubs unhappy at the sense of "entitlement" which has been created.
