(Bloomberg) -- Len Blavatnik, the billionaire owner of streaming group Dazn Group, has given a financial guarantee to back his group’s winning bid for broadcasting rights of France’s elite professional football league.
The French league on Thursday agreed on the details of the €2 billion ($2.2 billion), five-year deal with Dazn, including an exit option after two years, the people said. The decision came after Blavatnik promised that Access Industries, Dazn’s parent, will stand behind Dazn in case there are any issues of late payment, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.
Dazn, which already has significant live football broadcasting rights in Italy, Spain and Germany, will show eight out of nine matches each week in France’s elite league next season, with one further match being broadcast on a delayed basis. The Qatari broadcaster beIN is still negotiating to broadcast one match per week, as a complement to the Dazn deal, the people said.
French clubs are especially sensitive to broadcasters letting them down after the Mediapro group walked away from a deal after only two months of its first season in 2020. Dazn made an operating loss of about €1.1 billion, according to its latest set of accounts filed at UK Companies House at the end of 2022. Blavatnik is the founder of Access Industries, a privately-held company with $35 billion worth of investments across various sectors, according to its website.
Dazn’s football offering will add to its existing sports content in France, which includes French basketball, women’s champions league and the Professional Fighters League.
Representatives for Dazn and beIN declined to comment, while a representative for LFP didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The majority of the top French football clubs initially voted in favor for a broadcast deal with Dazn and beIN subject to certain clauses and adjustments, Ligue de Football Professionnel said on July 16. The league started a bidding process for the broadcasting rights 10 months ago and had contemplated starting its own channel.
The LFP said last week that it has started an audit into the expenses of itself and its media rights company to check whether the expenses “commensurate with the investments made.”
Sign up for Bloomberg’s Business of Sports newsletter for the context you need on the collision of power, money and sports.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
