Dispute over TV rights
DAZN goes to court and threatens to leave the Bundesliga
The Internet sports broadcaster DAZN is accepting a years-long legal dispute with the DFL. photo
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
The dispute over the auction of TV rights is entering the next round. DAZN is going to court. And in the event of a defeat, they are even considering withdrawing completely from the football league.
In the billion dollar dispute over the TV rights auction between the German Football League and DAZN is threatened with a tough legal battle. The global media company announced that it would go to court on Friday.
“In view of the DFL’s lack of response to our complaint about the unlawful allocation of rights package B, DAZN will take legal action to achieve the award of the package,” a company spokesman told the German Press Agency on Friday.
According to dpa information, the Internet sports broadcaster DAZN even intends to withdraw completely from the Bundesliga TV broadcast if it does not receive package B. The sales process for the audiovisual media rights of the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga was initially interrupted on Monday the previous week because there was no bank guarantee from DAZN. According to information from dpa, the pay-TV broadcaster Sky was awarded the contract for the lucrative TV rights package on Tuesday, and is said to have offered significantly less than DAZN. The entire process was then stopped for the time being.
Years of litigation are no deterrent for DAZN
DAZN now wants to exhaust all legal means in the dispute with the DFL – and is blatantly threatening to do so. “The legal process can take years, starting with a lawsuit before an arbitration tribunal and possibly through several instances before German civil courts, if necessary with the involvement of the European Court of Justice,” said the company spokesman.
The DFL responded to the allegations with a statement on Friday and vehemently rejected them. The DFL announced that the auction of Package B, like the entire tender process, was carried out “transparently”. The tender was legally awarded to another bidder. DAZN’s offers did not conform to the tender and were therefore not taken into account in the award. DAZN’s accusation that it was not correctly informed about the award conditions is “firmly rejected”.
DFL remains calm
The DFL is calm about an arbitration claim. “Should DAZN file the arbitration claim, the DFL is well positioned for such a procedure. In the interests of speedy procedural and legal certainty, which is in everyone’s interest, the DFL expects that all parties involved accept an arbitration award as final and conclusive.”
The dispute is about package B for live games on pay TV. It is the largest package with the matches on Saturday at 3.30 p.m. and on Friday evening as well as the relegation games. This package includes a total of 196 live games. The other live games are included in the pay TV packages C with the top games on Saturday at 6.30 p.m. and the Supercup as well as D with the Sunday games. Altogether there are 113 live games.
According to dpa information, DAZN offered around 400 million euros annually for package B – around 1.6 billion euros for the rights period 2025/26 to 2028/29. Calculated over this four-year period, the offer is said to have been around 300 million euros more than the competition. DAZN complained that the required bank guarantee could not be obtained within 24 hours and submitted it this week. In the DFL’s view, that was too late: “Submitting documents after a rights package has been awarded in accordance with the auction rules has no effect.”
The DFL already has experience with TV disputes and the German Institution for Arbitration. Four years ago, the dispute with Discovery/Eurosport dragged on for several months due to missing payments worth millions. At the end of 2020, the then DFL managing director Christian Seifert announced: “We have comprehensively won the legal dispute and the money is flowing as planned.”
Not dependent on Bundesliga rights
But now the league faces another problem even in the event of a legal victory against DAZN. According to reports, in this case the company would completely withdraw from the Bundesliga tender because the DFL’s behavior was completely irrational and non-transparent.
The loss of the Bundesliga, which DAZN will still be allowed to show on Fridays and Sundays next season, would hurt the company. But the paid internet broadcaster has comprehensive TV rights for the Champions League as well as other football leagues, including the Spanish La Liga and the Italian Serie A, at least until 2027.
For the DFL, DAZN’s exit from the bidding process would be a much bigger problem. The auction of the other packages would lack a financially strong competitor who could drive up prices through competitive bidding. It seems questionable whether the league will then be able to generate 4.4 billion euros over four years – as was the case with the last TV rights tender.