Kieran Maguire: Tottenham to reap dividends from £1.6bn ‘bidding war’
Tottenham and their Premier League allies will benefit from a television rights “bidding war” if DAZN follow up on their Premier League interest.
That is the opinion of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the increased interest in Premier League broadcasting rights.
The Times reported last Friday (17 February) that broadcasting company DAZN are set to bid for future Premier League television rights.
DAZN currently pay £747million per season for the domestic broadcasting rights in Italy for the Serie A and CEO Shay Segev stated that the Premier League is a “high priority” for the company.
The auction for the 2025-28 Premier League rights is due to take place in a year’s time.
The current value of broadcasting rights has sat around £1.66billion over the last seven years, with Amazon Prime, Sky Sports and BT Sports the current rights holders in the UK.
Maguire believes DAZN are “serious” about their intentions with the Premier League but insists they will face competition from other OTT services.
“DAZN are a potential entrant to the market,” Maguire told Football Insider.
“They have won rights in other European leagues such as Serie A which indicates that they are serious about their intentions.
“It’s unlikely that they’ll try to take away many of Sky’s packages, it’s more likely that they’ll target BT Sport who have a lukewarm level of enthusiasm towards the Premier League.
“Other potential OTT partners and streamers are looking at the global appeal of the Premier League and a bidding war could increase the overall value of rights and benefit clubs, Tottenham included.
“But the problem is that there has to be a delicate balance between individual rights holders willing to pay more and the amount viewers are willing to pay for subscriptions.
“Television subscriptions to watch football games are reaching in excess of £1,000.“
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