For the first time, 24 teams competed in the European Championships this summer, and, as a result, record TV revenue brought more than €1 billion into UEFA’s coffers.
According to Finance Football, €1.05 billion (54%) of UEFA’s income from Euro 2016 came from TV revenue. 130 television partners broadcast Euro 2016’s 51 matches around the world, and the 20 extra matches created as a result of including eight more teams in the competition added 1.1 billion viewers to the total audience.
600 million people watched at least a minute of the final between France and Portugal, although the average audience was 284.4 million – less than the Euro 2012 final between Spain and Italy, watched by an average audience of 299 million. However, both were a long way behind the average audience of 570.1 million for the 2014 World Cup final.
The increased number of matches, and consequent increase in the size of the TV audience, was a key factor in the 34% increase in revenues for Euro 2016 compared to Euro 2012. In total, UEFA brought in €1.93 billion from the competition, which – following the deduction of the €1.1 billion costs for organising the competition – generated a profit of €830 million.
€600 million from this will be redistributed to the 55 UEFA associations from 2016-2020, while the remainder will go to the institution itself to cover various organisational costs.
