Starting this Thursday, football fans will have a new open window dedicated to the UEFA Europa League. The Mediaset España group has reached an agreement with Movistar Plus, which owns the rights to this and the rest of the European competitions, which contemplates the broadcast of six games from the current season and fourteen games from the next.
After the agreement, of which the economic amount has not been revealed, the first game that can be seen openly on the small screen is the first leg of the round of 16 that Roma and Real Sociedad will play this afternoon from 6:45 p.m. at Cuatro and Mitele, with narration and comments from the Mediaset sports team.
At present, and after the elimination of FC Barcelona against Manchester United two weeks ago, there are still three Spanish teams in this competition: the aforementioned Real Sociedad, Betis and Sevilla. Teams to which Mediaset will foreseeably give priority when choosing the matches to broadcast in the open. In the round of 16 second legs on March 16 are Betis-Manchester United, Fenerbahçé-Sevilla and Real Sociedad-Roma. Mediaset has not revealed whether the matches to be broadcast will include the final to be played on May 31 in Budapest.
After acquiring the Club World Cup in February, of which Real Madrid was proclaimed the winner, Mediaset returns to betting on open-air football after not having renewed the rights to the Copa del Rey that it had since the 2019/20 season to date. 2021/22 shared with DAZN. This season it has been RTVE that has the rights to the cup competition and until 2025, in which it will broadcast 15 matches each year, including the final. RTVE also acquired 19 matches of the Qatar 2022 World Cup last year and the Champions League finals this year and next.
The commitment to free-to-air football has become one of the objectives of both RTVE and Mediaset España as a tool to recover an audience in the face of the uninterrupted leadership that Antena 3 has exercised for more than a year. In addition to the viewers that it attracts during the broadcast, open-air football can also be used as a cushion to promote spaces that are broadcast later, as happened a week ago with the premiere of Cover night on La 1 after the Copa del Rey semifinal between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
