The arbitration case between German soccer’s DFL body and DAZN, the global sports streaming service, over the domestic media rights tender for the top-flight Bundesliga is finally set for a resolution in September.
A ruling is expected in the coming weeks – although the case could yet drag on further if the DFL wins and DAZN chooses to appeal.
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DAZN, one of the DFL’s two incumbent domestic rightsholders, took legal action against the league in April after missing out on the main package of rights to the next cycle of the Bundesliga earlier this year, claiming the DFL acted unlawfully in not accepting its bid in the tender. As a result, the German league was forced to suspend the tender process.
It is believed that package B of Bundesliga rights for the 2025-26 to 2028-29 five-year cycle has been awarded to Sky, as it was in the previous tender. That package, one of four reserved for pay-TV broadcasters only, includes matches played on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons and comprises a total of 196 per season.
However, DAZN then legally challenged the outcome of the rights auction.
For the DFL, finding a resolution is its main priority as it seeks to resume the domestic tender process – with 2024-25 already underway – and sell all available packages.
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By GlobalDataSpeaking to international media at the German Supercup over the weekend, DFL co-CEO Steffen Merkel, said: “We will certainly have a solution over the next weeks and months because that's what's important to us as the DFL and is acceptable to the clubs and won't cause trouble and problems to the clubs.
“The rights are starting to take effect in the summer of 2025 but there's a licensing procedure and money distribution.”
In terms of how the DFL and DAZN will co-exist moving forward, Merkel added: “With respect to the relationship, everybody is doing their very best to think about the day after as well.”
DAZN remains a Bundesliga partner domestically at least for one more season, and has also put its dispute in Germany aside to work with the league in other markets.
The OTT platform last week secured exclusive Bundesliga rights in Spain from the beginning of 2025-26, through the 2028-29 campaign.
Bundesliga International, the league’s global commercial rights division, negotiated that agreement, and its chief marketing officer, Peer Naubert, explained that although the dispute with DAZN was unexpected, the two parties are still able to maintain a professional relationship to continue conducting business.
Naubert said: “When the dispute happened in Germany, that came unexpectedly to us, and we were surprised. Then we had conversations and understood it was not perfect for our global collaboration. But anyhow, things need to go on, and we are grown-ups.
“It's a business we are in and just because we are heavily arguing in one market, shouldn't put us in a position that we are not able to close deals in other markets.
“We had good, healthy, and positive discussions around Spain in the past weeks, as we're discussing with them in other markets as well and the communication is also open for the German market, obviously with an elephant in the room. I think we shouldn't over-dramatize the whole thing.”
In recent weeks, Bundesliga International has signed multiple rights deals in global markets, including a range of broadcast tie-ups in sub-Saharan Africa and an agreement in Poland with Eleven Sports, the international subscription broadcaster.
Naubert confirmed that the league has primarily concluded its international broadcast partnerships for this season but still has two agreements to finalize this week.
With global rights taken care of, attention will now firmly switch to the domestic market as the Bundesliga seeks to secure a lucrative new long-term deal.
Only one rights package (package A) was sold before the tender was suspended, with the league describing the offers from Sky and DAZN as “competitive” and “attractive."
In the domestic tender, four of the live rights packages (which can now be sold to a single buyer, although this is not compulsory) are for pay-TV, two are technology-neutral covering the second-tier Bundesliga 2, and one is for free-to-air rights to at least nine live games across the whole portfolio (from both leagues, the Supercup, and the post-season relegation playoffs).
The rights lots will in total cover 617 matches per season, while there are also three audio rights packages on offer, as well as one covering ‘digital out of home.’
In addition, new highlights rights packages have also been created, that can be used as early as Monday following the weekend’s action. One of these will focus on digital platforms, including the broadcasting of 90-second clips.
This is added onto the pay-TV rights for highlight clips following the final whistle from all matches, while the DFL has also said that there may be opportunities during the next cycle for social media clips to be posted during games.
Other major European leagues, notably Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1, have seen a drop in the value of their media rights for the next cycle (which in those cases starts this season, 2024-25) with broadcasters unwilling to pay the fees wanted.
The Bundesliga, however, does not expect its rights value to fall at similar levels.
Merkel said: “In the last year, we've received many questions regarding what the conversion is to Italy and now to France, which also saw a 20% downturn. I think the situations around those tender procedures have always been very specific and different from what the situation is right now here in Germany.
“If you look, for example, at the Italian situation, two weeks ahead of the tender, Sky Italia announced that it won't participate, or just in a very small amount. So the way for DAZN to go was relatively free, and in the end, nevertheless, the Italians probably didn't get the result they actually wanted, but the downturn was somehow well managed and avoided.
“Also in the French league, the situation was very difficult and very different from ours, because Canal Plus announced one week ahead of the tender that it wouldn’t participate, and even did so publicly.
“Whereas at our end, we saw two really good offers for the first rights package. Now we must focus on the arbitration procedures, and I’d say we are in a good position after the first package. After what we've seen so far, I believe we'll have a tender outcome that will be satisfactory for the clubs.”
When struggling to receive suitable offers for their domestic rights, both Serie A and Ligue 1 explored the possibility of launching an in-house direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming channel to house their rights.
Serie A briefly contemplated this as bids did not meet their €1 billion per season asking price but eventually signed off on deals with DAZN and Sky Italia worth €900 million annually.
In France, however, a DTC option was a real possibility as bids were simply not forthcoming for their domestic rights up until the very last minute.
Around a month before the start of the 2024-25 campaign, Ligue 1 presidents voted to accept a joint offer from DAZN and BeIN Sports over the launch of a DTC Ligue 1 platform.
No major European league has yet gone down the DTC route and the option is also not under consideration at present in Germany.
Merkel said: “Right now, it's the wrong point in time to think about it. Beyond the arbitration procedure, we want to resume an auction afterward and optimize a result that still accounts for 80% of the revenues going through the books of the organization.
“That’s what we are all working for here, so it would not be the right point to think about an offering in four or five rights cycles.
“The ingredients from the technical side at the DFL are always there, which is probably better than at any other football league, and we could produce the pictures ourselves, as we already manufacture an international product portfolio.
“However, it's not purely a production-related decision, but firstly a commercial decision. That's certainly more difficult to analyze – there are better moments to look at this than right now in a pending tender procedure.”
