April 29 – DAZN has responded furiously to a German Football League (DFL) statement on the tender process and the award of broadcast rights to Sky Germany, amid a dispute with DAZN over delayed payments on the existing contract and negotiations for the Bundesliga rights cycle for 2025-2029.
DAZN currently shares broadcast rights with Sky Germany for Friday and Sunday games in the Bundesliga. However, for the 2025-2029 period, it wants to secure a larger package. The auction for this was halted after DAZN claimed unfair treatment in bidding for the biggest package, including Friday and Saturday matches for four seasons.
The two parties are further squabbling over the DFL’s implication that DAZN are untrustworthy in a series of statements, sparking DAZN to release fresh statements defending themselves.
“The credibility of DAZN as a trustworthy business partner has been massively discredited by the behaviour and statements of the DFL management over the past two weeks,” DAZN boss Shay Segev said on Sunday in a letter to the 36 DFL clubs,
“[The DFL statements] give the impression that DAZN has deliberately caused a massive default in payment to the 36 Bundesliga and second division clubs. We hereby state: This is false and we must vehemently contradict this slander,” the letter read.
While DAZN has threatened to take the dispute to court, the DFL rejected all the accusations and said it is “well positioned for such proceedings.”
The DFL awarded its package B broadcasting rights, which is its biggest and most lucrative package consisting of the Friday fixture and Saturday afternoon games for a total 196 matches for the seasons 2025-26 to 2028-29, to Sky despite DAZN’s reportedly higher bid.
In a statement issued on Friday, the DFL said it carried out the tender process “in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner in accordance with the commitments made to the Federal Cartel Office and the regulations of the tender documents.”
The league added: “The responsible DFL committees have legally awarded rights package B to another bidder in accordance with the procedural rules of the tender. The offers from DAZN did not comply with the tender and were therefore not taken into account in the award. The document from a bank subsequently submitted by DAZN does not change the decision about the alternative award. There is no basis and no justification for the reversal of the decision demanded by DAZN.
“The DFL once again firmly rejects DAZN’s repeated argument that they were not correctly informed about the award conditions. The conditions were known to all interested parties in the auction.
“The DFL has clarified its position in several letters to DAZN and made several offers for talks. The “lack of reaction from the DFL” publicly cited by DAZN is incomprehensible.
“Should DAZN file the arbitration claim, the DFL is well positioned for such proceedings. 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.”
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1732333452labto1732333452ofdlr1732333452owedi1732333452sni@g1732333452niwe.1732333452yrrah1732333452