Dazn Targets Rights For Champions League In Latest Football Move Involving Saudi Arabia

Dazn is preparing to bid for world broadcasting authorities for Champions League games from 2027 successful different important move into shot by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi’s Surj Sports Investment bought a 10% liking successful Dazn for $1bn (£746.94m) successful February, 2 months aft nan streaming level agreed to salary nan aforesaid sum to Fifa for exclusive world authorities for nan Club World Cup. Dazn claimed an assemblage of 2.7 cardinal for nan Club World Cup, a fig understood to subordinate to full views alternatively than individual viewers, and societal media engagement of 10bn utilizing nan aforesaid metric. Encouraged by these figures, Dazn wants world authorities for nan Champions League, nan main invention successful Uefa’s Champions League tender process for nan 2027-31 cycle, which was launched this month.

Uefa has made a world authorities package disposable for nan first time, pinch nan winning level getting nan first prime of nan Tuesday crippled successful each lucifer information to watercourse successful each market. The associated task that unites European Football Clubs (formerly nan European Club Association) pinch Uefa, UC3, is understood to worth nan azygous crippled world authorities astatine astir £440m a year, astir 10% of its valuation for each nan Champions League matches. That would make nan four-year authorities worthy astir £1.76bn.

The tender process, tally by nan US-based Relevent Sports, has been designed to pull offers from streaming companies specified arsenic Netflix, Amazon and Disney+, but Dazn is besides intending to bid, contempt this twelvemonth stepping distant from its TV authorities deal successful France and seeking to renegotiate its woody successful Belgium.

Dazn is 1 of nan fewer companies pinch nan exertion and worldwide scope to make a occurrence of world streaming, pinch its 63-game unrecorded sum of nan Club World Cup passing disconnected without problems. Viewing figures were humble successful England, contempt Dazn sublicensing galore of nan matches to Channel 5, but location were notable successes elsewhere, peculiarly successful Brazil, pinch Fifa reporting that 131 cardinal group watched nan tourney there, 62% of nan population. According to study conducted for Fifa by nan information institution Nielsen Sports, 28 cardinal and 24 cardinal group watched nan Club World Cup successful Italy and Spain respectively, reflecting nan truth that Dazn is good established successful those countries, successful portion because it has unrecorded authorities for Serie A and La Liga.

Dazn’s liking successful nan Champions League comes astatine a clip erstwhile it appears to beryllium reducing itsinvestment elsewhere. One root astatine nan institution said nan directive from nan owners, Sir Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries and Surj, is to make nan institution profitable. Another root claimed Dazn had been told to trim costs aft nan Club World Cup but that Blavatnik and Surj are prepared to punishment large finance for awesome events specified arsenic nan Champions League.

As portion of an effort astatine savings, Dazn informed nan Jupiler Pro League successful Belgium a fortnight agone that it intended to renegotiate its five-year $440m unrecorded authorities woody aft a fewer months because it had grounded to discuss a carriage woody pinch a accepted broadcaster. As a result, Belgian convention games are not being shown connected tv and are disposable only via nan Dazn app.

Dazn terminated its statement for Ligue 1 aft 1 play successful a akin manner this summertime owing to disappointing subscriber numbers successful a move that will lead to savings of astir €1.5bn (£1.12bn) complete nan adjacent 4 years. Although Dazn paid a termination interest of €100m, nan institution will make awesome savings by stepping distant from contractual payments that began astatine €375m successful nan first twelvemonth and were owed to emergence to €500m successful nan last season.

Such moves person helped Dazn trim costs aft it had been losing billions since launching successful Europe and Asia successful 2018, having begun arsenic a combat sport-based level successful nan US. The company’s 2024 accounts published this period showed its losses had reduced from $1.4bn to $936m, pinch nan main executive, Shay Segev, saying it would beryllium profitable by 2026 and that nan purpose was to go “the Spotify of sport”.

Dazn declined to comment.