For the sports broadcasting industry, the development heightens speculation about Uefa’s media rights strategy for its two club competitions, the Champions League and Europa League, and its future relationship with Team Marketing, its long-term sales agency.
The new Uefa company will have responsibility for all of Uefa’s business and commercial operations. Uefa’s general secretary, David Taylor, will become the company’s chief executive on October 1. The first question Taylor will have to deal with is whether to bring the sale of the highly lucrative Champions League commercial rights in-house or to continue to employ Team. Taylor will have to move quickly. Any new sales arrangements for the period post-2012, when present deals expire, would have to be in place in the next 12 months.
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