A Landmark Shift in Visibility, Strategy, and the Commercial Future of Women’s Football
CBS Sports and Paramount+ are reportedly poised to take over U.S. broadcasting rights for the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) starting with the 2025–26 season, replacing current rights holders DAZN and YouTube. The deal signals a meaningful step forward in how women’s football is positioned, distributed, and commercialized in one of the world’s most strategic sports markets.
Why This Deal Matters
While DAZN’s free-to-air YouTube approach was instrumental in driving global visibility for the UWCL, CBS Sports represents a more commercially mature phase for the competition. The move to a premium broadcaster like CBS/Paramount+ suggests:
- Increased production quality and storytelling sophistication
- Deeper U.S. market penetration across both linear TV and digital platforms
- Revenue-generating potential, not just reach
- An alignment with the growing corporate interest in women’s sports
CBS already has a strong track record with the NWSL, UEFA men’s competitions, and the NFL. Adding the UWCL fills a content gap while giving UEFA a premium partner in the world’s most influential sports media market.
Commercial Implications
For brands, clubs, and the sport as a whole, this deal is more than just a media rights shuffle — it’s a moment of repositioning:
- Increased Valuation: The UWCL becomes more “sponsor-worthy” as part of CBS’s elite sports portfolio. Expect a rise in jersey sponsorship value, tournament branding deals, and athlete endorsement opportunities.
- Better Fan Targeting: Paramount+ enables CBS to hyper-segment fan groups, deliver personalized content, and introduce e-commerce, ticketing, and community-based experiences.
- Corporate Confidence: A legacy broadcaster backing women’s football in the U.S. signals confidence to Fortune 500 companies looking to invest in the women’s game — both at home and globally.
As a strategic sports consultancy, here’s what we would advise different stakeholders in response to this landmark deal:
For Brands:
Leverage the CBS/Paramount+ platform to activate campaigns during UWCL broadcast windows. Use this opportunity to associate with premium women’s football in a U.S. prime-time context. Think product launches, values-based storytelling, influencer collabs, and experiential watch parties.
For UEFA Clubs:
This is your gateway into the American market. Develop U.S.-specific digital content, launch English-first brand campaigns, and tailor merchandise strategies for American fans. Use CBS’s marketing muscle as a distribution partner, not just a broadcaster.
For CBS Sports:
Invest in shoulder content — documentaries, short-form player profiles, behind-the-scenes features. The audience for women’s football is often story-first, stat-second. Create a narrative layer that adds emotional weight to each match.
For UEFA:
Use this U.S. momentum to push for synchronized global deals that treat the UWCL not as an “add-on” to the men’s game but as a premium standalone property. Bundle it smartly — not quietly.
Final Word + CTA
The UWCL’s entry into CBS Sports and Paramount+ marks a critical inflection point for the women’s game in the U.S. It’s a sign that we’re entering an era where women’s football is no longer just building visibility — it’s entering the mainstream commercial sports economy.
We help brands, broadcasters, and rights holders build tailored strategies for fan engagement, sponsorships, and market entry across women’s sport.
