SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
DAZN has expressed interest in showing Premier League games in overseas markets, as the English top-flight nears renegotiation with its current deal coming to an end in the 2024-25 season.
The news follows the streaming service’s CFO Darren Waterman discussion with iPaper News, where he suggested that it is ‘only a matter of time’ before Premier League officials fully embrace such platforms.
A key factor into Waterman’s argument was that DAZN is ‘uniquely placed’ in several territories outside of the UK. He also mentioned that it may use a similar add-on subscription-based service to showcase top-division matches as it already does for NFL games with DAZN Game Pass.
He commented: “We have the technology to do it, they’ve seen what we can do with the NFL game pass which makes every game available to fans. We’re uniquely placed in that we’re everywhere so we could really help the Premier League in, say, South East Asia or South America.
“We’ve been established across the world in core markets since 2016. It’s a business where you have to invest at the beginning, like any platform business you have to build the platform before you get the customers.
“You have to invest to grow your customer base. Where we are is on that path where our revenue is getting over that fixed cost.”
The Premier League first opened its arms to streaming services in 2019, but only agreed a deal with Amazon Prime to live stream 20 games per season until the end of the 2021-22 season.
Content with the success of Amazon Prime’s coverage, the streaming platform joined Sky Sports and BT Sport (now TNT Sports) in a renewed £4.8bn TV deal, lasting until 2025.
The league is already preparing to trump its last broadcast deal, reportedly angling to offer more TV fixtures from 200 to 270 in a bid to get the best deal possible.
Whilst already boasting football coverage in leagues such as La Liga in Spain, the Bundesliga in Germany and Italy’s Serie A, Waterman admits that the Premier League is the most valuable and next to enter the streaming market.
He concluded: “The Premier League is the next top, top right to come to the market and we will definitely look at it, we have to. It’s a great opportunity.
“The Premier League rights remain the most effective engine for driving pay-TV subscriptions in the UK ahead of this upcoming auction. It’s not until 2025 so it’s a fair way off but yes, we’ll look at it.”
