A report in the Financial Times has revealed streaming service DAZN is nearing a deal to buy BT Sport, potentially making it a main player to rival Sky Sports in the sports broadcasting business. DAZN has been making moves throughout sport recently with a lucrative deal secured to poach Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Promotions from under the noses of Sky Sports in one of UK Boxing’s biggest deals ever. On top of this they also have the rights for Serie A in Italy, the Bundesliga in Germany and the J- League in Japan.
Celtic Supporters are currently subscribing to Sky Sports for the Scottish Premiership, Premier Sports for the Cups, BT Sports for Europa League and many have Celtic TV too, oh and Aberdeen at the end of last season charged £12.99 for a stream of the visit of Celtic for a nothing match and Livingston charged an incredible £20 on Sunday for the stream for the game which they beat Celtic 1-0.
With this news coming out it has been suggested by the Daily Record that Scottish football should be monitoring this situation, claiming ‘Scottish football could benefit enormously from this game-changing deal if the powers that be at the SPFL are able to take advantage and pitch their case to billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik’s over-the-top platform’
Firstly calling DAZN an ‘over the top platform’ makes it sound like some sort of ridiculous, amateurish company just ready to throw money at anything which I can guarantee you it is not. As a huge fan of Boxing I have been a subscriber to DAZN for a year or so now and it is anything but ‘over the top’. It has some great live events, well broadcast and well presented as well as a huge back catalogue of events, all on an app that runs smoothly.
On whether the SPFL should be ‘pitching their case to them’ well I’ve got news for the Daily Record. The current broadcast deal they have with Sky Sports is locked in place until the end of the 2024/25 season so no ‘pitching’ will be taking place anytime soon. On the plus side with almost four years to prepare even Neil Doncaster may be able to deliver a decent pitch by then…
Conall McGinty
