Bundesliga domestic TV rights 2025-2029: tender suspended after dispute with DAZN

The Deutsche Fußball Liga is suspending its tender for domestic media rights to the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga for the 2025-2029 cycle (four seasons), which was launched on 15/04/2024, following a complaint from OTT platform DAZN, learned the German press from the DFL on 17/04/2024.

The British streaming service sent a letter to the DFL, the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga clubs and the German Federal Cartel Office (competition authority) accusing the league of "illegal behaviour" in the process. The dispute relates to the allocation of Lot B of the call for tenders (all the individual Friday and Saturday afternoon Bundesliga matches), since DAZN submitted the best financial bid for this lot but was not awarded it, according to German press reports. The League reportedly deemed the financial guarantees submitted by the OTT platform for this "high-value" lot to be insufficient.

"The demand for disproportionate financial guarantees and the refusal to provide proof of solvency that would have fully satisfied the DFL's legitimate interests constitute an abuse of the DFL's dominant position…