Daily Mirror: DAZN to launch £300m-a-year bid for Premier League rights currently held by Amazon Prime

Story from Daily Mirror:

DAZN is looking to challenge Amazon Prime as they hope to land their Premier League matches in the live auction which will take place in the coming months.

The Premier League are reportedly going to offer an expanded fifth package of games, which will include several midweek matches, as well as Sunday contests featuring clubs that have been involved in the Europa League.

Amazon are currently forking out £90million to get the rights to 60 live matches played across the Christmas period throughout three seasons. The Daily Mail has reported that broadcasters have upped their interest following the Premier League's announcement that all Sunday games will be televised from the 2025-26 season.

DAZN are looking to target the package currently purchased by Amazon, which they view as particularly attainable due to the hike in price from the Premier League. Amazon were encouraged to come to the market several years ago with industry insiders stating that they were given their first deal at a discounted rate.

Amazon saw the 2019-22 domestic TV deal extended by a further three years on the same terms due to the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning they were able to retain the same number of games for a lower fare, but that is set to end, which could force them to give up the rights if they don't want to fork out bigger sums.

The Premier League are set to auction off the cheapest of their five packages for an annual sum of roughly £300m, which could force Amazon to consider their stance. The primetime Saturday and Sunday packages are expected to be retained by Sky Sports and TNT Sport.

DAZN is becoming an increasingly influential player in the market and already shows the Premier League in Spain and the women’s Champions League in the UK alongside their hefty portfolio of sports, which is perhaps best known for boxing with Anthony Joshua signed to the broadcaster.

The company’s chief financial officer, Darren Waterman, previously told i Paper that the Premier League auction is a “great opportunity” as they continue to weigh up their options. He said: “The Premier League is the next top, top right to come to the market and we will definitely look at it, we have to. It’s a great opportunity. It’s not until 2025 so it’s a fair way off but yes, we’ll look at it.”

He also claimed that DAZN could also assist in making every game available simultaneously in one of the Premier League’s overseas territories, which they've already seen success with in the NFL “We have the technology to do it, they’ve seen what we can do with the NFL game pass which makes every game available to fans,” he said. “We’re uniquely placed in that we’re everywhere so we could really help the Premier League in, say, South East Asia or South America.”