Football goes "post-woke"
Things have taken a darker turn.
Yes, I am about to talk a whole lot about politics here. Proceed at your own risk.
Content warning: sexual assault, homophobia, transphobia, racist abuse
Last month, the streaming service Paramount+ won the rights to broadcast most Champions League matches in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, reportedly spending quite a bit more than the previous rights holders to do this.
While Paramount hasn’t dipped its toes in European football broadcasting before, this isn’t the most shocking news in the world, on the face of it. Paramount+ already broadcasts the Champions League in the United States, and we’re pretty used to new players entering the market on this side of the Atlantic, which usually means streamers these days.
But Paramount weren’t exactly spending this money two years ago. The company was on the verge of financial ruin, debt-ridden and miles behind its competitors. The Redstone family, which held a majority of voting rights at the company, was desperate for a seller, with most expecting Paramount to get strip mined for parts under a new owner. As it turned out, Paramount got bought by film producer David Ellison and merged with his existing company Skydance Media, a tiny player compared to one of the most famous studios in Hollywood.
Ellison wasn’t able to put together a bid for Paramount through his own hard work and reputation. He’s the son of Larry Ellison, founder of software company Oracle and one of the top five richest men in the world. Larry has been busy recently. A Republican Party donor since 2016 who may or may not deny that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, has been angling to position himself as a powerful player in media as a close ally of Donald Trump.
It hasn’t, in truth, been going very well, with Trump not lifting a finger to stop Netflix’s rival bid to take over Warner Bros, a company the Ellisons covet. There was slightly “better” news elsewhere, as Oracle became part of the new, administration-approved, ownership structure of TikTok’s US operations. But the Ellison strategy continues at Paramount: prioritise making Trump happy over all else, since this is now the way you make it in America.
With the money involved in its Champions League various rights deals, Paramount is now probably UEFA’s single most valuable commercial partner. They will not want to upset their most important source of income.
That means UEFA, too, must now bend the knee to Trump.