DAZN eying national sports rights after local acquisations
DAZN eying national sports rights after local acquisations
The streamer is using recent local sports rights acquisitions as stepping stones toward larger potential deals in the future.
For years, DAZN has primarily been known as a combat sports streamer in the United States, but the London-based service has made major inroads with the top domestic leagues stateside in recent months. Thanks to the death of Main Street Sports Group, a large selection of NBA, NHL, and MLB teams were recently left searching for a new distributor for their local rights. DAZN stepped in to fill the void for numerous clubs, and while it has plans for more future local rights, company CEO Shay Segev says the streamer also plans to go after national rights packages now that it has a foot firmly in the door with all major American leagues.
Key Details:
- Still looking: DAZN is in “active talks” with major league teams in the U.S. for their local rights.
- Keep growing: The streamer could well get into the mix for national rights packages, as well.
- Tech upgrades: Acquisitions of EverPass Media and ViewLift allow DAZN to make a strong case to leagues.
DAZN has made some major local rights acquisitions of late. In July, the streamer inked deals with Big Apple broadcasters YES Network and MSG to distribute teams like the New York Yankees and New York Knicks to area streaming customers. The service has also inked local rights deals with numerous teams and regional sports networks — like the Washington D.C.-area teams broadcasting Monumental+ and the NBA's Indiana Pacers to name a few.
In total, DAZN has acquired local rights to 19 teams across the MLB, NBA, NHL, and WNBA. DAZN’s CEO of growth markets Pete Oliver recently spoke with Front Office Sports about the platform’s local sports ambitions, saying that its pickups so far are just the beginning of its quest to become a local rights hub.
“We’re in active talks with a number of teams, plus a number of leagues,” Oliver said. “Once we go into the next season, including the [2027] baseball season, we expect to bring more teams on board. A big focus for us right now is to do a great job with these [19] teams, have those teams and their fans feel good about this. But after that, we definitely will be ramping up more.”
Additionally, DAZN has its eyes on becoming distributor for the NBA’s forthcoming local rights hub, and it has even bigger goals in mind. Speaking at the Leaders Week London conference, Segev said that local rights distribution can help the service build relationships with leagues that could be parlayed into national rights deals in the future.
“I hope [local rights deals] will roll up into a bigger deal with the NHL, with the NBA, clearly,” Segev said. “We are not there just to become the local broadcaster for a team in a specific state. We want to become a bigger national broadcaster, ideally a global broadcaster as well, and a partner.”
Acquisitions of the streaming tech company ViewLift and the commercial streaming platform EverPass Media could also assist DAZN in making a strong case to major leagues that it could be a viable distribution partner for their national packages. The MLB, NHL, and NFL all have national rights negotiations coming in the next five years, and DAZN will likely look to jump into the mix with each of them.
DAZN already partners with the NFL internationally, so its relationship with that league is well established, too. The sports landscape in the United States is changing dramatically, with streamers playing a larger role in distribution than ever before. Audiences may not be fully familiar with DAZN yet, but they may have to get to know the streamer if its national sports ambitions bear fruit in the coming years.
DAZN
DAZN is an international sports streaming service dedicated to live and on-demand sports programming. Since its launch in 2016, the platform has expanded to become one of the world’s leading sports streaming destinations, offering coverage that varies by region and includes boxing, soccer, MMA, women’s sports, motorsports, and other major competitions.