DAZN, the over-the-top video service operated by digital sports media company Perform, has set its sights on securing live National Football League rights in the United States.
“We’re definitely interested in looking at the NFL rights,” DAZN chief executive Simon Denyer told Bloomberg. “Our strategy is to be a major player in sports rights via OTT, and the U.S. and Canada have the highest penetration of OTT in the world.”
The subscription-based streaming service is currently the exclusive home in Canada of the NFL’s Game Pass digital subscription package.
In March, it was reported that the NFL is looking to expand its Sunday Ticket package for out-of-market games beyond its exclusive deal with DirecTV and into the digital frontier.
This appears to be DAZN’s best opportunity to secure the rights to the most-watched sport in the US, although it would face severe marketplace competition, including from the likes of Disney.
The NFL must reportedly opt out of the Sunday Ticket deal with DirecTV, which is worth $1.5bn per year, by early September, otherwise the partnership will continue until 2022.
According to the Bloomberg report, DAZN’s move into Major League Baseball has “brought thousands of new subscribers” in the US. As part of a three-year deal, worth $300m, DAZN is producing a live whiparound show every MLB weeknight, switching between live games at key moments in an offering similar to the NFL RedZone service, complemented with in-studio analysis.