The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga has put the auction for the Bundesliga’s domestic broadcast rights on hold after a bidder complained of unfair treatment.
The Bundesliga is offering the broadcast rights from 2025/26 to 2028/29.
DAZN, which is the current holder of the Bundesliga rights accused the DFL of “abusing its dominant position in the football broadcast rights market”. It said the DFL was in contravention of German and European Competition Law.
According to the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper, DAZN expressed “deep disappointment and great dismay that our offer was rejected, even though [we] had made the most financially attractive and most convincing offer for rights package B.”
“We are led to believe that our financial offer lay substantially above every other offer.”
Package B is the largest package available and features the exclusive broadcast rights to 196 live games, including five Saturday 15.30 kick-offs, the weekly Friday night matches, and end of season play-offs.
Under the current contract, Sky Deutschland has the rights to the Saturday matches, while DAZN screens the Friday and Sunday fixtures.
DAZN has revealed that it is bidding against Sky for the package. It claims it lost out because of its failure to produce a bank guarantee, arguing that in previous auction a letter of responsibility has been acceptable.
A spokesperson for DAZN told Broadband TV News: “DAZN has concerns with elements of the process and has raised these issues directly with the DFL. DAZN remains committed to delivering value for the Bundesliga, its member clubs and their fans. We will not comment further on this topic at this stage.”
However, in a statement released to the SID sports news agency, the DFL said it rejected the allegations made against it in the “strongest possible terms”.
DFL said it would discuss the matter with Germany’s Federal Competition Commission, the Bundeskartellamt.
The current deals are worth a total of €1.1 billion.
