DAZN launches bid to broadcast all EFL games live

DAZN is bidding to show every Englih Football League match live in the U.K. and across the world “in a move that would lead to the Saturday 3pm blackout being ditched.” If successful, it would mean that all 1,656 matches a season across the Championship, League One and League Two would be “screened live.” The DAZN proposal will present EFL board members with a dilemma, as they will “have to balance the extra TV revenue against the possibility of clubs losing matchday income, particularly from travelling fans.”

DAZN is understood to be competing against Sky Sports, the rights holders since 2002, as well as Nordic streamer Viaplay for the next set of broadcast rights from 2024. DAZN would be “open to sharing some games” but wants to position itself as the place to “go to see every EFL match for fans both in the UK and abroad,” similar to the deal last month when it secured the global rights outside the U.S. to every NFL match. The EFL rights are traditionally sold in four-year blocks but DAZN would want “at least five years and preferably more”  Sports Business Journal