Telemundo’s coverage of elite, global soccer won’t end after the World Cup final.

Telemundo has acquired the Spanish-language broadcast rights in the U.S. for all UEFA men’s club competitions for three seasons, beginning in 2027-28, the company announced Sunday.

The deal will bring live coverage of every match in the Champions League, the European tournament widely considered the world’s most prestigious club competition, across all of NBCUniversal’s broadcast, streaming and digital platforms, which include Peacock, Universo and Telemundo Deportes Ahora, its free, ad-supported television (FAST) channel.

The package will also include the Spanish-language rights to UEFA’s Europa League, Conference League and Super Cup competitions. (NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC News and Telemundo.)

After the World Cup drew record audiences for Telemundo, the next question was how to continue building on such interest, said Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal News Group. The Champions League, which is played annually and features many of the stars who became household names in the U.S. during the World Cup, was a natural answer.

“The World Cup didn’t really create an American soccer audience; it revealed it,” Conde said. “Premium soccer is just one of those truly global experiences that’s leapt out in the media ecosystem, and it brings people together from different backgrounds, different cultures, and different languages, and for something to be able to transcend all of that is very powerful in this current media ecosystem.”

Luis Fernández, Chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, described Telemundo’s overarching strategy as being based on “live TV, live TV live TV,” and that within live television, soccer’s appeal is uniquely broad and compelling.

The company has invested heavily in the sport. On Thursday, Telemundo announced it will carry more than 100 matches per season from Germany’s Bundesliga. The company already carries the Spanish-language broadcasts for the Premier League, the Olympics, U.S. men’s and women’s national teams matches and Liga MX clubs Guadalajara, FC Juárez and Tigres UANL.

“This World Cup demonstrates that for our audience here in the states, (soccer) is very important,” Fernández said. “If you ask what is the most important franchise brand sports rights in football and soccer, there are only two names: World Cup for the national teams and Champions League for the most important clubs in the world.”

The deal comes at a time of surging viewership for soccer in the U.S.

Through the semifinals, Telemundo’s coverage averaged a total audience of 6 million, an increase of 147% on the 2022 World Cup at the same stage of the tournament, according to the company.

A record audience of 50 million watched the U.S. match in the round of 16 of the World Cup across all broadcasters, making it the most-watched non-NFL sporting event this century, according to U.S. Soccer. Yet viewership continued to set records even after the U.S. team’s run was over. A total audience of 11.4 million watched Argentina’s win over England on Telemundo and Peacock, making it the most-watched semifinal ever in Spanish-language media history, according to the company. Spain’s win over France was watched by an audience of 9.8 million.

Notably, Telemundo says it reaches 96% of U.S. Hispanic TV households, the audience for its World Cup broadcasts hasn’t been limited to Spanish speakers. Though about 20% of the U.S. population is Hispanic, Telemundo’s broadcasts drew more than half of some matches’ total audience, including the round of 16 thriller between England and Mexico, according to Variety.

“An interesting dynamic that we particularly saw during this World Cup is that fans increasingly aren’t choosing to consume premium soccer based only on language,” Conde said. “They’re choosing it based on authenticity and the experience that they want to get out of the events. And so that’s what I think has also been a great insight and reminder for everyone in the marketplace, that authenticity in coverage of a global sporting event like soccer can transcend language, demographics, and cultures.”

Aleksander Čeferin, the UEFA President and chair of the board of UC3, which sells UEFA’s media rights, said in a statement that the “agreement with Telemundo reflects both the strength of our competitions and the passion of Spanish-speaking fans in the United States.”

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LONDON — Scotland fans famously drank Boston dry.

But while the team’s exploits on the field could not match the success of its supporters, pubs in England — some of which are struggling financially — have been boosted by the boon in beer sales from the team’s run to the World Cup semifinals.

England plays archrival Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday, an 8 p.m. kickoff back home (3 p.m. ET) that will likely see fans flock to pubs across the country hoping to see their team make its first World Cup final in 60 years.

The profit made from the World Cup accounts for around 15% of the annual sales made by the Bread and Cheese pub in Thundersley, a small village around 40 miles east of London, owner Steve Haslam told NBC News in a telephone interview Tuesday.

He said he expected to make around 7,000 pounds to 9,000 pounds ($9,400 to $12,000) more than the average Wednesday, when England kicks off.

And his pub is not alone. Around 5.5 million extra pints had been sold during group stages alone, according to UKHospitality, a trade body that represents the country’s hospitality and leisure sector.

Emma McClarkin, the CEO of the British Beer and Pub Association, said in an email Tuesday that it expected “Wednesday to be the most successful night of the tournament, with more than 6 million extra pints potentially sold,” around a 75% increase on the 8 million pints typically sold on an average Wednesday in July.

However, figures compiled by her organization and published in May show that 161 pubs across Britain closed between January and March, the equivalent of almost two a day.

Overall “margins are getting squeezed because it is a tough time for pubs right now,” said Haslam, the owner of the Bread and Cheese who is also director of Aim Pubs, a family business that owns eight pubs across the United Kingdom.

Having initially refused, the government did eventually relent and relax licensing laws for England’s second-round match against Mexico, allowing pubs to stay open until 5 a.m. local time.

But both UKHospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association say lawmakers need to do more to protect the industry and blame high business rates and taxes as contributing factors to pub closures.

It’s a view shared by Ash Corbett-Collins, chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale or CAMRA.

The “government needs to fully recognize the contributions pubs make to the economy and social well-being of local communities,” he said. “We risk losing more and more pubs unless meaningful support is given.”

Fairer business rates and less tax on food and drink, including beer, would help out, he said. “The industry can’t rely on a sports tournament every four years to survive,” he added.

A spokesperson for Britain’s Treasury said the government was backing the hospitality industry by cutting taxes “on family attractions and kids meals this summer, reforming business rates, extending World Cup opening hours, and taking action on the cost of living to boost the sector.”

The British government also announced in January that pubs and live music venues would be given a 15% discount on their business rates from April and not see increases for two years.

The British Beer and Pub Association said that this was “vital, but temporary” but a longer-term plan was required to “save pubs, jobs, and hearts of communities.”

And Haslam also said that the cut was largely ineffective and that he believed the government should revise the business and other taxes to help out.

“The great British pub is the heart of the country. People go to pubs to make memories. They’re social hubs doing so much good for the community,” he said. “Pubs have changed my life.”

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The satirical news site The Onion isn’t waiting to take possession of Infowars to launch a parody of Alex Jones ’ conspiracy platform.

More than a year after first trying to buy Infowars, The Onion on Thursday will debut a send-up under its own website with plans to give some of the revenue to families of the victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The families have still received no money from Jones since courts ordered him to pay more than $1 billion for falsely calling the 2012 shooting a hoax.

The Onion will start by sending the families $100,000 from merchandise sales that combine the conspiracy empire’s brand with the The Onion’s logo in rainbow colors, according to CEO Ben Collins, whose company is still in court trying to take control of Infowars.

“Don’t give comedy writers a grudge for 18 months,” Collins said.

The parody will include a series of shows and other content under Infowars branding that spoof Jones’ aggressive mashup of conspiracies linking major news events, dubious scientific claims, attacks on people suffering in tragedies and sales of supplements and survival gear.

Jones’ claims that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut is a hoax have no truth, but Jones continued to amplify them. His followers started to harass victims’ families, suggesting they were “crisis actors” and even making death threats.

Jones’ Infowars empire had 10 million visitors a month and generated more than $50 million in annual revenues at its peak, according to the company. But the $1.4 billion judgments in defamation cases in Connecticut and Texas, where Jones is based, forced him into bankruptcy and broke Infowars apart.

“All he’s been left with is an iPhone and a fancy microphone,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for nine of the Sandy Hook families.

Jones has moved his show to a different website. An email sent to an address to request interviews went unanswered.

The families knew they could never stop Jones from getting his message out, and he has managed to avoid paying the judgment so far. But they could expose what he said and assure he can never profit again, Mattei said.

“Every dime Alex Jones makes from here until the end of eternity is going to be claimed by the families,” Mattei said.

The Onion stepped in when Collins saw Infowars’ assets were going to be sold at auction.

Collins spoke to Sandy Hook families, who said they were briefly skeptical, but then saw how The Onion’s staff could use the Infowars style and branding to take the moral high ground and make fun of the people who not only caused them so much pain but they felt also poisoned society.

Collins didn’t want to give away too much of the new stuff before it goes live Thursday.

But the new Infowars will maintain The Onion’s sharp satire sprinkled with shock value. Collins said there will be a section selling a penis flattening device, a fake “pro oxygen” supplement pill that the host claims can replace breathing, as well as an extended debate on how many Bozo the Clowns there are.

“It’s old-fashioned Infowars — using the tricks that they use to get people addicted to outrage and, I would say, addicted to anticipation, trying to find the thing that’s around the corner that’s going to save your life,” Collins said.

The Onion will keep chasing Jones’ property. Collins thinks they will soon get control of the Austin, Texas, studio Infowars once used.

Some families can’t wait for that day. Collins said that Robbie Parker, whose daughter died at Sandy Hook, plans to read his book about fighting Jones while dealing with so much grief in the place Jones once sat.

The families at first wanted Infowars shut down forever and Jones never heard from again. But they are now looking forward to seeing what The Onion has planned, attorney Mattei said.

“The idea that it could be turned to some social good. I think it’s even better,” Mattei said. “So, yeah, I think the families are both pleased and amused with what they’ve been able to achieve here.”