Hard tackling between DAZN and German Football League
The conflict between the German Football League (DFL) and streaming platform DAZN is holding up the awarding of broadcasting rights for the four seasons beginning 2025/26. As threatened, DAZN has now called in the German Arbitration Institute. A DFL spokesperson confirmed that a request for arbitration has been received.
The arbitration proceedings may take three months, until August. However, the streaming platform, which is owned by the American-British billionaire Leonard Blavatnik, has stated that it would continue the dispute in the ordinary courts — all the way to the European Court of Justice if necessary. It could then take years to reach a final verdict.
Most expensive rights package
The conflict broke out as soon as the first rights package was awarded. This so-called B Rights package is the most attractive, largest and most expensive. It contains live broadcasts of 196 first division matches on Friday and Saturday, including playoff matches for promotion and relegation. The deal was awarded to pay-TV broadcaster Sky, although it offered less than DAZN, according to industry sources. The league currently earns an average of around 1.1 billion euros per season for the rights. This is by far its biggest revenue source. More than 80% of this amount comes from Sky and DAZN.
The dispute was triggered by a bank guarantee that DAZN, according to in the DFL, submitted late. The company has accused the DFL of defamation, claiming that its credibility as a business partner has been severely damaged.
The DFL responded coolly, saying that the DAZN bid was not in line with the tender, and therefore not considered in the award process. And that a document subsequently submitted by a bank does not change the decision. „There is no basis and no justification for the withdrawal of the decision, as demanded by DAZN,“ the DFL said. It considers itself well positioned in the arbitration proceedings.
Letter of comfort is not enough
A close observer of the scene says that in previous tenders, the DFL has accepted letters of comfort from bidders' parent companies, as an alternative to a bank guarantee. The prerequisite was that they had proven to be reliable payers. This also applied to DAZN. However, DAZN agreed a payment deferral with the DFL for the broadcasting rights in the current season. This raised doubts about its liquidity, and prompted the DFL to demand more security.
Consequences for the clubs
DAZN's late payment has consequences for the 36 clubs in the first and second leagues. The DFL recently informed them that the so-called payment installment to the clubs will be reduced by 80 million euros to 47 million euros in June. The justification for this was that revenue in this amount was missing, because partners had not made the payments on the due dates. The DFL financed the installments for April and May with a short-term bank loan.
The conflict between the DFL and DAZN could have more consequences for the clubs. If DAZN does not bid for some of the other packages, as it has threatened, the price would probably be lower, due to less competition.
