UEFA announces "opening match" for Champions League 2027/28, broadcast rights to be sold globally

UEFA has announced a new change in future men's Champions League editions, starting with 2027/28. Starting in two seasons, there will be an "opening match" featuring the current champion of the competition, that will be the sole match from the league phase to be played on Tuesday of the opening week. The rest of the 17 matches will be played on Wednesday and Thursday.

This is a change from the usual schedule of having Champions League games be played on Tuesday and Wednesday. The only exception this year was the opening week, with games evenly spread on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the final matchday of the league phase, where every match is played at the same time on Wednesday, January 28.

This change comes at the same time as UEFA decides with UC3, the joint venture between UEFA and clubs for managing rights, new ways to sell the broadcasting rights for that opening match: they will be sold globally for the first time, instead of what they do now (and will continue to do with the rest of the competition), selling them differently to each country or region.

That way, they hope to make the opening match a "standout event", much like what the Americans like to do with the NFL (or the Germans with Bundesliga), that could potentially be broadcast worldwide by a streaming service, like Prime Video or Disney+ (which already broadcasts Women's Champions League worldwide through ESPN).

Do you agree with those changes made by UEFA to increase Champions League visibility worldwide?