Netflix is weighing a move into Premier League rights after narrowly missing out on new Uefa football packages.
The streamer is understood to have bid for the global rights to the Uefa Super Cup – the annual match between the Champions League and Europa League winners – as well as Champions League rights in Germany for 2027-31. Industry sources told The Times that Netflix’s offers were competitive, but Uefa chose not to separate the Super Cup from its wider rights and Paramount+ ultimately outbid Netflix for the German Champions League package.
Netflix’s participation – coupled with Paramount+ winning the main UK Champions League rights from 2027 – is being viewed inside the industry as a signal that global SVOD players are now ready to compete seriously for premium football. That raises the prospect of fresh competition for Sky and TNT Sports when the next domestic Premier League packages are shaped, and for NBC when the league’s US deal – currently worth around £2 billion (€2.36 billion) over six years – expires in 2028.
Broadcast insiders quoted by The Times suggest Netflix could initially target a themed bundle of festive Premier League fixtures when rights are next offered, rather than jumping straight into a full-season package. Such a package was previously held for the UK market by Amazon. The current UK domestic contracts run to 2029, but the league has increasingly experimented with packaging specific kick-off slots and calendar windows.
The move into football follows Netflix’s step-by-step expansion in sport. The platform has so far focused on one-off events – including an NFL game last Christmas and the heavily watched Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight, with a peak of 65 million streams – and will show Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul on 19 December. It has also secured US rights to the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cups, and its bid for Champions League rights in Germany is seen as a test of the waters in men’s football.
From 2027-31, UK rights to the Champions League will be split between Paramount+, Sky Sports and Amazon in deals worth in excess of £1.9 billion over four years, compared with TNT Sports’ £915 million agreement for 2024-27. For the first time, Europa League and Conference League rights in the UK will sit with a different broadcaster – Sky Sports – while the BBC retains its midweek highlights.
