London-based streaming service DAZN remains committed to breaking into the American market.
The company hopes to accomplish that by making an aggressive play for local NBA broadcast rights, both in the short-term and long-term. As has been previously reported, DAZN is engaging the 13 NBA teams left behind by Main Street Sports Group, owner of the FanDuel-branded regional sports networks, all of which will need to find short-term local broadcast solutions for next season.
For the first time, however, DAZN is publicly acknowledging its interest in becoming a long-term local broadcast solution for the NBA once the league launches its widely anticipated local broadcast streaming hub for the 2027-28 season. Pete Oliver, DAZN CEO of Growth Markets, told Sports Business Journal that the streamer is hoping to leverage short-term local broadcast deals for next season into a partnership to host the league’s centralized streaming hub in the future.
“Obviously [the NBA] will make their decision ultimately about who their partner is, and that’s their process and we’re very respectful of that,” Oliver told Sports Business Journal. “But let’s be clear, we want to be in that space.”
For now, DAZN is targeting the 13 teams in need of local broadcast deals for next season. Those teams are the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, Timberwolves, Thunder, Magic, and Spurs.
Oliver says DAZN is “willing to be flexible” with teams for next season, potentially negotiating contracts that have exit options after one year so teams can join the NBA’s centralized platform should it be ready by the 2027-28 season.
DAZN is reportedly proposing deals that would pay teams between $8 million and $15 million next season and place local broadcasts on its subscription streaming service. These deals would also include an option to simulcast between 10 and 15 games on local, over-the-air broadcast networks or place the same number of games in front of DAZN’s paywall.
Fubo is said to be DAZN’s biggest competitor for next season, with the Disney-owned platform reportedly offering rights fees “in the same range or perhaps more.” Fubo’s offers would also allow teams to strike direct-to-distrubtor deals with cable and satellite operators like Comcast or DirecTV to keep games on traditional linear platforms, a factor that is considered attractive to some teams.
Next year’s deals, however, are seen as more of a stopgap measure for teams before the league launches its centralized local broadcast hub. Sports Business Journal reports that “several teams” are estimating annual local broadcast rights fees could average out to about $40 million per team under a centralized platform. Those estimates would value local NBA rights at over $1 billion per year in the aggregate.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.