The emergence of the UEFA Nations League in 2018 will bring even greater focus and attention to European National Team soccer. In practical terms, the launch of the new league will cause a reduction in “meaningless friendly matches” replacing them with competitive games leading to a championship match. European nations will now compete in a showcase event each and every year; with the FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro’s occurring in even years and UEFA Nations League in the odd years.
For fans in the U.S. this means more time watching ESPN and Univision. This week the two networks secured U.S. broadcast rights to the 2020 European Championship and its qualifiers, European World Cup qualifiers, as well as the new UEFA Nations League tournament. According to Sports Business Journal sources ESPN payed more than $110M for the package of European soccer rights and Univision $70M.