Dazn eyes UK partner deal for Club World Cup rights
Dazn is looking to sublicense its rights to broadcast the Club World Cup in the UK this summer in a bid to take its coverage of the historic tournament to the widest possible audience.
The London-headquartered sports streaming service acquired the global rights to Fifa’s first 32-team edition of the revamped competition earlier this year in a reported $1bn deal and has pledged to show all 63 matches for free worldwide on its app.
It has already reached an agreement for the US market to share some Club World Cup matches with Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT Sports, TBS and truTV and Spanish language network TelevisaUnivision.
With just over two months to go until the action kicks off in the States, Dazn confirmed to CityAM that it is exploring a sublicensing arrangement in the UK.
“We’re looking at it at the moment, to try and reach more people,” said Pete Oliver, Dazn’s CEO of Growth Markets.
“We’ve not announced anything on sublicensing. What I can tell you is that all 63 games will be completely available for free on the Dazn app.
“This is probably the first time in many years that people will get access to a tournament like this for free, because the Champions League isn’t free, the Premier League isn’t free, and so on.”
ITV previously showed interest in carrying the Club World Cup, reportedly submitting a cheeky offer to Fifa to show it for nothing, but could face competition from the BBC and Channel 4.
Dazn to send team and talent to Club World Cup
Dazn operates in 200 markets around the world and works with rightsholders including the NFL, Formula 1, NBA, Uefa, the Bundesliga, Serie A and LaLiga.
It is perhaps best known for its wide-ranging coverage of boxing, where it has exclusive deals with promoters Matchroom and Queensberry, and MMA, working with the UFC.
For the Club World Cup Dazn will send its own production team and presenters to the US, with announcements on talent expected over the coming weeks.
“There’s been a bit of cynicism here. What we see, particularly in Europe, South America, the Middle East, is there’s huge excitement for the tournament,” Oliver added.
“I think when it starts, people here will see four games a day for 30 odd days with Real Madrid, PSG, Juventus, obviously Chelsea and Man City. I think people will be very excited about it.”