European nights involving Celtic are always special. Unfortunately, the club were not able to qualify for the Champions League this season. But they will be playing Europa League football. They drew their first game away in Serbia against Red Star Belgrade, a decent enough start to the campaign for Brendan Rodgers' side.
European football will return to Celtic Park next week when they host SC Braga. The Portuguese side could provide a tough test for the Scottish champions, and it promises to be a tough matchup.
The manner in which fans around the world view these games could significantly change in the future though. It looks like UEFA are planning a revamp, in which the focus could be on attracting streaming platforms as the next destination for top level European football.
As reported by Bloomberg, UEFA are overhauling the broadcast tender process for its Champions League competition. The aim of this move is to boost its appeal to streaming providers such as Amazon and Netflix. They will now be able to bid for rights in multiple markets at the same time, and the European football governing body is discussing the potential for longer-term contracts as well.
UEFA planning major change that will interest Celtic fans
The global landscape of sports broadcasting has changed a lot in recent years. We have seen a steady shift towards streaming platforms.
For a lot of these streaming platforms, the next area of focus appears to have become live sports. We have seen the WWE shift to Netflix in recent times, while major boxing events like the Canelo Alvarez vs Terrence Crawford was also livestreamed on the platform, bringing in a reported 41 million-plus viewers.
That just seems like the future of football as well. So, do not be surprised to see the Champions League move to a streaming platform soon, perhaps globally.