It is currently being auctioned off at a secret location in Frankfurt am Main German football league (DFL) their media rights. It’s about 617 games in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, the relegation and the Supercup from the 2025/26 season. Football fans will soon know which channels and streaming providers they need from next year; the auction ends on December 4th at the latest. It is the DFL’s second attempt; the auction’s first attempt failed in April. Dazn and the DFL then took legal action before an arbitration tribunal.
What went wrong at the first auction?
The dispute between Dazn and the DFL was about the so-called rights package B. This is the most attractive package for the broadcasters; it includes the Bundesliga games on Saturday afternoon, Friday and the two relegation games. Dazn felt disadvantaged in the award. The channel claimed it had offered more money than its competitors. But Sky was awarded the rights package B.
The DFL denied the allegations in April, saying the tender was transparent and non-discriminatory: “Dazn Limited’s offers did not conform to the tender and were therefore not taken into account in the award.”
Dazn is said to have asked several times for payment deferrals during the ongoing rights period. In April, the DFL demanded a bank guarantee from Dazn for the sum offered for rights package B, allegedly 400 million euros per season. Dazn argued that no bank guarantee could be obtained at such short notice and, as is usual in such commercial disputes, it went to arbitration. This decided in favor of the broadcaster and the DFL had to put the rights package out to tender again.
“The DFL made technical errors in a pressure situation,” says Oliver Budzinski, who researches the economics of sport at the Ilmenau University of Technology. Changing the conditions while the process is ongoing is not possible. After the arbitration court ruling, the league canceled the award.
When asked by ZEIT ONLINE, Dazn does not want to say anything about the alleged payment arrears and refers to the ongoing one Auction. In an interview with Capital said Dazn boss Alice Mascia: “As far as the numbers are concerned, Dazn is doing very well in Germany.” The company expected a positive annual balance for 2023.
Will the DFL ultimately benefit from the failed first attempt?
This is difficult to predict because the starting position is special. The bidders – it probably comes down to Dazn and Sky again – now know what the competition was willing to pay. “It’s like playing poker, where half of each other’s cards are face up on the table,” said sports marketing expert Marco Klewenhagen Deutschlandfunk.
Does Sky now offer significantly more? Is Dazn adjusting its offer downwards? One thing is clear: the rights are important for both broadcasters in order to retain subscribers. Dazn even threatened to withdraw from the Bundesliga if they were not awarded rights package B. From 2026, Sky will lose the television channel HBO, which has many series in its program, and does not want to also lose the Bundesliga conference to Dazn.
But how much can and do broadcasters want to pay? “The football market continues to grow, but not as quickly,” says economist Budzinski. The euphoria of the past twenty years is over; some broadcasters apparently have problems refinancing the rights. Many therefore expect that the DFL will have to be happy if it receives the 1.1 billion euros per season it currently receives.
How does the TV rights auction work?
There are strict legal requirements for the allocation of TV rights to the Bundesliga. Because not every football club markets the rights to its games individually (which would be possible), but rather all together in a league association, the DFL essentially has a monopoly. “The clubs form a market-determining cartel in order to maximize income,” says Oliver Budzinski.
An auction is considered a legally secure procedure and can be worthwhile for the DFL. “The DFL is trying to maximize its revenue, and the best way to do that is through hidden auctions,” says Budzinski. If you don’t know what the other person is offering, you may be prepared to offer a little more than is actually necessary. Bidders specify a sum per rights package. If it is above a minimum limit set by the DFL, the highest bidder wins and is immediately awarded the contract. If the second highest offer is a maximum of 20 percent lower than the highest, a round may be repeated.
Do fans need multiple subscriptions again?
So far, fans have not benefited from competition on the TV rights market. Instead, they need multiple subscriptions to watch their club. This is a consequence of the No Single Buyer Rule, a requirement of the Federal Cartel Office. It states that the Bundesliga’s live rights may not be awarded to a single provider. This was intended to promote innovation, but ultimately cost customers more money.
The Federal Cartel Office has now suspended the no-single-buyer rule for the upcoming award period. Dazn or Sky could each secure the complete rights to the live broadcast. “Since the no-single-buyer rule is no longer applicable, the fan can be the winner of the TV rights award,” says sports marketing expert Christoph Bertling from the Cologne Sports University.
And the sports show?
The sanctuary of many football fans is in danger. ARD wants and has to save money on sports rights, so it could be that another broadcaster makes a higher bid for the rights to Bundesliga highlights. “The ARD cannot increase its budget if necessary like a stock corporation, it has to make do with the resources available,” says Bertling.
This time the DFL has announced two packages for the highlights: the classic model from 6 p.m. and a compact package from 7:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. That could be cheaper, but it shouldn’t be an option for ARD: the Tagesschau starts at 8 p.m.
