Does losing money on FIFA Club World Cup make sense for DAZN?
Does losing money on FIFA Club World Cup make sense for DAZN?
DAZN spent $1 billion on Club World Cup rights, only to stream every match from the tournament for free. Was that the smart play?
Has the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup been a success for anyone? The tournament has reportedly struggled to put fans in seats at arenas around the United States, and it’s not likely to bring in monster streaming revenues either. In fact, the Club World Cup’s streaming partner DAZN decided to offer all matches from the newly expanded tournament for free, despite paying a hefty sum to acquire the rights. The move can easily be interpreted as a play to get more Americans watching the streamer, but I question whether that’s a move that will pay off in the long term.
Key Details:
- It’s only money: DAZN repottedly spent $1 billion on Club World Cup rights.
- Billionaire backing: DAZN is owned by Sir Len Blavatnik, who has invested billions of his own money into the service.
- Uphill battle: Breaking into the American market while competing with brands like Netflix and ESPN will be difficult for DAZN.
According to reports, DAZN spent $1 billion on Club World Cup rights, but there’s no way the streamer is going to make that money back. Since DAZN is not requiring a subscription to watch the games, it will not get any revenue from there. While the matches will feature commercials, it is impossible for advertising to cover the cost of the rights.
Sub-licensing deals have helped some; DAZN made a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to televise some games from the tournament on TNT and TBS in the U.S., and has made similar deals with broadcasters in other countries as well.
One source told the British newspaper The Telegraph that despite these deals and the ad revenue DAZN can pull in, the streamer isn’t going to be anywhere close to recouping the $1 billion it spent to get the rights.
“There’s no way on God’s earth it is going to make the money back in advertising,” they said. “DAZN has made some money back in sublicensing. I hear about $200 million to $300 million in sublicensing.”
Of course, a loss of $500 million or more on the FIFA Club World Cup rights could be nothing more than a drop in the bucket for the streamer’s owner. DAZN is owned by Sir Len Blavatnik, who has put almost $7 billion of his own money into the service and has been able to seemingly shrug off losses. A $1 billion infusion from the Saudi Public Investment Fund last year hasn’t hurt the service’s fortunes either.
One way to look at DAZN’s decision to sink a bunch of money into the Club World Cup is that it undoubtedly is looking to attract more people — specifically Americans — to the platform in order to pursue more high-profile sporting events in the future. Then, in theory, more stateside viewers who have become familiar with DAZN thanks to the Club World Cup will be more likely to the new rights to the platform. DAZN currently offers mostly combat sports in the U.S., and while it holds the rights to stream NFL, NBA, international soccer leagues, and other events that are popular domestically in other global territories, such rights are few and far between on this side of the Atlantic.
In December, The Streamable speculated that DAZN was bidding on the FIFA Women’s World Cup, but those rights eventually went to Netflix. However, DAZN could easily decide to go after other marquee rights for sports that are more popular among American audiences.
Unfortunately, I’m not so convinced that’s a good idea. DAZN still loses billions every year, and is not even close to the most well-established sports brand in the U.S. Not only would it have to outbid firmly entrenched media companies for top sports rights, but it wold have to work uphill for the attention of viewers who are already feeling burnt out by the rapid fragmentation of sports broadcasting rights.
Say the NFL exercises its right to opt out of its contracts with broadcasters in 2030, and DAZN wants to make a play for a package with the most popular league in North America. Even if it comes up with a more lucrative bid than everyone else, how will the NFL feel about partnering with a streamer with such a small American footprint? The league has expressed trepidation enough about streaming games on Netflix, Prime Video, and other well-established brands domestically, and while it does use DAZN to distribute NFL Game Pass internationally, I very much doubt that it would agree to sell a package of games to the streamer domestically. Perhaps, DAZN would be an interesting option for an expanded package of games played internationally, but otherwise, it would be nearly impossible to imagine any type of substantive set of NFL games on the streamer.
On paper, it makes sense for DAZN to have tried to attract new users by offering FIFA Club World Cup matches for free. But in practice, even if DAZN does bring new American eyes to the platform, I don’t think that it will be enough to create a springboard for the wider pursuit of more popular domestic sports rights. However, I would love to be proven wrong and for a new digital-first option to be in the mix for major sports rights.
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.