The arbitration court has spoken: DAZN has won a new tender in the battle for the Bundesliga rights. The poker game starts all over again – but Sky is now facing a big problem.
The DFL’s promise for the most coveted live package is gone again. And even worse: Sky now knows that it had been significantly outbid. So significantly that even experts have doubts as to whether the pay-TV giant still has a chance.
Sky faces heavy Bundesliga bankruptcy
It is no coincidence that the awarding of rights escalated in the fight for package B. It contains by far the most live games, namely 196 out of 306. All individual games during Bundesliga prime time (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.), plus all Friday games. Even in terms of ratings, nothing comes even close to this package.
+++ Sky: Bundesliga earthquake! Fan dream suddenly within reach +++
Sky had actually already been awarded the contract. But DAZN objected to the award, called in an arbitration court – and has now achieved a new tender. The battle is starting all over again. With completely new circumstances. For the first time, the competitors know what the competition had offered.
Can Sky still hold its own?
However, this is not good news for Sky. DAZN offered a whopping 80 million euros more – per season! And that is no coincidence. As the streaming service’s Germany boss recently revealed, the Bundesliga is now in the black. No other provider has managed that before. Not even Sky.
In the past (when Premiere was) and today, German professional football was a loss-making business. So much so that parent company Comcast even wanted to sell the German business. Even insiders doubt that Sky can shell out another 320 million euros (and thus a total of 1.6 billion) for Package B alone. Sports marketing expert Marco Klewenhagen explains that the provider must now ask itself to what extent it “still wants to – and can” counter the DAZN bid.
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To make matters worse, even the bid of 1.6 billion is unlikely to be enough. After all, the big rival can (and will) increase its offer again. The battle for the largest and most important rights package is in danger of being lost. After the loss of all Champions League rights, this would be the next major blow.
