The Bundesliga has negotiated a € 4.4 billion media rights deal with Sky and streaming partner DAZN for its domestic territory, also including Austria and Switzerland.
The four-year deal, however, is not free from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. The media rights value has been € 200 million below the contract for the previous four-year cycle. The contract also includes the rights for the 2.Bundesliga, the second flight German professional league. The existing contract will expire with the completion of the present season
After becoming the first top five professional football league to resume action following suspension of all the major sporting action due to novel coronavirus, Bundesliga with the media rights successful negotiation has also opened a window of opportunities for other sports leagues.
The Premier League media rights will also be up for grabs this year.
Considering that the bleak market scenario, coupled with the absence of any significant LIVE action for over two months, has severely affected the broadcasters financially, the contract in spite of a € 200 mn deficit over the value of the previous four-year period is being seen as a good bargain for Bundesliga.
“No company will have all the live rights for the Bundesliga. It was an unusual situation for everyone involved and I think we achieved a decent result,” said German Football Federation (DFL) chief executive, Christian Seifert.
The bargain will see 200 matches played on Saturdays on Sky Sports, while Dazn will have exclusive rights for 106 matches on Fridays and Saturdays. Several other games have also been allocated to a free to air channel ProSieben/Sat1.