Why are Fox News not showcasing all of the Euro 2024 matches?

por Wosti -

The US loves football now (or should we say, soccer) - the league was never really that big compared to their version of football, the NFL. But since big names like Messi made the move, more US fans are becoming obsessed with European football. The 2020 Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich peaked with a record 2.63 million US viewers. 

That's nothing on European countries, and that was four years ago - figures for 2023 or 2024 are tricky to find.

Anyway, the tournament that has everyone talking is the UEFA Euros, with it now confirmed to be a Spain final against England or the Netherlands. If you're an England fan, you'll probably put your money on the Netherlands.

One thing that's annoyed Americans throughout the Euros is Fox News having the right to show the games but not showing them all. 

Read on to learn why.

Fox's Broadcasting Rights and the Fubo Deal

The Euros rights were bought by Fox Sports in a six-year contract starting in Fall 2021 from ESPN, which had held them since 2008. This huge deal was reportedly worth around $300 million for the 2024 and 2028 tournaments. However, shortly after acquiring these rights, Fox agreed with a streaming service called Fubo TV, which gave it sublicense privileges for some matches.

In effect, five group-stage games were given to Fubo TV. These included Hungary vs. Switzerland, Romania vs. Ukraine, Turkey vs. Georgia, Slovakia vs. Ukraine, and Georgia vs. Czechia. Sport is all about the business, not the fans, trust us. As a result, to watch those games, fans must have a subscription to Fubo, which isn't cheap at all - its cheapest plan starts at $79.99 per month.

The American people were fuming.

The Impact on Fans

As we say - they were fuming. Most US sports events are on standard TV stations, especially the big games and tournaments. But it’s becoming common that you can find most things broadcast online, from a real-time casino broadcast to the latest music events to podcasts about politics. It's the same for the UK - the Euros games have been on standard TV channels.

To watch every Euro 2024 game, they either have to get Fubo or go for Univision's ViX streaming platform, which broadcasts them in Spanish and is slightly more affordable at $5 per month, including ads. And if you've not watched football with Spanish commentators it’s an…experience, shall we say.

This shift hasn't been without bumps along the way. During its maiden live broadcast of the Hungary versus Switzerland match, there was no game clock or score counter, which caused confusion and frustrated the viewers. Although Fubo quickly fixed this mistake in subsequent games, many people were annoyed by this oversight.

The Bigger Picture

The decision to sublicense matches to FuboTV is a much wider development in how sports broadcasting is changing. Traditional networks are increasingly partnering with streaming services to share the load of broadcasting rights. This trend is driven by several factors, including the high cost of broadcasting rights and the growing popularity of streaming platforms.

For Fox, sublicensing some matches to Fubo TV helps offset their initial investment and allows them to tap into a growing audience that prefers streaming to traditional cable. Remember, it's all about business - they'll think about themselves before the viewers.

Still, Fox showing some of the games was a big change from five years ago. Five years ago, Americans would have to pay a fortune for ESPN or illegally stream the content. We're not surprised that Fox did something like sell some of the rights to Fubo because, of course, they want to make as much money as possible from their investment. But what do you think about the lack of total coverage? Would you pay for Fubo as well?