The week in UEFA
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Article summary
The UEFA Champions League remains attractive for broadcasters, while bookings are already being made for hotels in anticipation of this season's final.
Article body
• Record sales levels
The sales process, conducted on UEFA's behalf by its partners TEAM Marketing, has already seen the awarding of the broadcast rights in all the major European markets, with the full lineup of six top level sponsorship partners to be confirmed shortly.
"This successful picture underlines the attractiveness of the UEFA Champions League in its current 13-matchweek format," said UEFA. "The financial return to UEFA and the participating clubs for the 2006-09 period will comfortably outstrip the previous record of over CHF1bn per season, which was achieved when the previous 17-matchweek format was in place."
UEFA revamped the Champions League format for the 2003/04 season, introducing one group stage and a 16-team knockout phase to bring added excitement.
The mainstream broadcaster partners for the 2006-09 period in the major European markets are:
UK: ITV and BSkyB / ESP: Antena 3 and Canal+
ITA: RAI (free-to-air), Mediaset (DTT) and Sky Italia (DTH)
FRA: TF1 and Canal+ / GER: Premiere (free-to-air and pay TV)
NED: NOS and UPC / Scandinavia: TV3 and Viasat
GRE: ERT and Supersport.
• Media hotel in Paris
Fifty years after the first European Champion Clubs' Cup final was played at the old Parc des Princes, the final of Europe's leading club competition is returning to Paris. It will be played on Wednesday 17 May, kicking off at 20.45 at the Stade de France in Paris Saint-Denis.
Press kits on Matchday 4 include the link to the hotel booking form for this season's UEFA Champions League final. The fact we are highlighting this so early in the campaign is a clear indication of how difficult it might be to obtain accommodation in Paris next May, bearing in mind that the city is a prime tourist destination.
The Holiday Inn La Villette has provisionally reserved rooms for media representatives who intend to cover the final. The hotel has 182 rooms with full facilities (including direct-dial telephones) plus fitness and business centres and a private garage. If you wish to make a booking you are urged to take action in good time. The deadline for reserving rooms at the Holiday Inn La Villette is Thursday 15 December. For full details, please access this page: http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/359592.pdf
