2024-09-28 00:09:23
The restart of the TV rights auction is both an opportunity and a risk for the DFL. It is still unclear who will emerge as the winner from the dispute. A top dog is under massive pressure.
Everything is still as we know it. The Bundesliga runs on DAZN on Fridays and Sundays and on Sky on Saturdays. For the fourth year in a row, the games in the German upper house are being divided in this way between the rights holders. And it will stay that way until the end of the season. From the 2025/2026 season onwards, fans of the German football top floor will have to adapt to different viewing habits.
The fact that at the end of September 2024, less than a year before the new season, there is still no clarity about who will show which games next season is due to the dispute between the streaming service DAZN and the German Football League (DFL) over TV rights up to and including the 2028/2029 season. This had already escalated in mid-April 2024.
Streaming provider DAZN felt discriminated against because its offer for rights package B was rejected, even though it was “the most financially attractive and convincing.” The bid is said to have amounted to 400 million euros per season – a total of 1.6 billion euros over four years. However, the DFL did not accept the financial guarantees provided by DAZN – and at extremely short notice. That’s why package B is said to have gone to Sky despite a lower offer (allegedly 320 million per season). DAZN then appealed to the arbitration tribunal, was partly right – and can feel like a winner by rescheduling the auction. The DFL wants to announce when this will take place as soon as possible.
At second glance, the fact that there was a dispute at all does not reflect well on the Federal Cartel Office, which sets the guidelines for the allocation of rights. However, the authority is not aware of any guilt in the dispute. “The circumstances of the dispute between DFL and DAZN depend on the individual case and are specific,” said Federal Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt when asked by t-online. The case was “in good hands” with the arbitration tribunal.
That controversial rights package B is, it can be said with certainty, the most important of the entire auction. It includes the individual games on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. as well as the individual matches on Friday evening and the relegation – a total of 196 games per season. What is new is that the Friday games, previously in package D, have now also been moved to package B (see graphic), which has given it another significant upgrade.
But the package is not just so lucrative because of the number of games. Owning this package may also determine supremacy in German sports pay TV. Because it already seems clear: If it goes to DAZN, Sky would lose the most important Saturday sports right after several years. Even the renewed acquisition of the 2nd Bundesliga or the “Tipico Topspiel” at 6.30 p.m. on Saturday evening would not hide this.
To put it bluntly: the loss of the rights would mean the temporary end of Sky as the top dog in the Bundesliga business. There is also a calculation behind DAZN’s bidding, regardless of the attractiveness of the package for the broadcaster. For the first time, you would have access to the Bundesliga Saturday, which is popular with fans, while your biggest competitor is staring down the barrel. Two birds with one stone, so to speak.
It remains to be seen whether DAZN will actually win the contract. The curious thing about the current situation is that both interested parties now know about the offer made in April – and are now readjusting. Sky is likely to be under greater pressure, as it has already been beaten out when it comes to the rights to the coveted Champions League. This is now broadcast by DAZN and Prime Video.
Some experts now strongly believe that Sky will significantly improve its offering and that DAZN will also follow suit. If that were to happen, the DFL would almost be a winner after the image-damaging dispute, as it would collect more for package B than the rumored 400 million from the original DAZN offer.