DAZN to Buy ELEVEN Group

DAZN Group has entered into an agreement to acquire the ELEVEN Group’s global sports media businesses, including ELEVEN Sports.

With the acquisition, DAZN will become the broadcaster of top football leagues in Portugal and Belgium. ELEVEN Group’s businesses will also complement DAZN’s existing positions in Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain, where DAZN holds domestic football rights. ELEVEN also has a presence in Taiwan and other Southeast Asian markets.

The acquisition of ELEVEN-owned media business Team Whistle will enable DAZN to reach younger audiences, diversify and expand its fan engagement capabilities and maximize the value of its rights portfolio.

ELEVENsports.com and the 40,000 games it streams each year will be integrated into the DAZN offering. ELEVEN plays a key role in FIFA’s OTT service FIFA+, supporting the production, delivery and distribution of live games from over 90 FIFA Member Associations.

Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN Group, said: “The acquisition adds scale to our business. It is a big step forward in our mission to be the leading global sports platform. I have a great deal of respect for what Andrea, Marc and the team have achieved and look forward to working with them as we further expand our ambitions. Together we form the strongest and most credible management team in the sector. DAZN has invested in building a revolutionary digital sports platform where fans can enjoy the full range of interactive sport entertainment. We are looking forward to expanding these capabilities to new markets as well as leveraging ELEVEN’s capabilities in DAZN.”

Marc Watson, CEO of ELEVEN Group, said: “We see DAZN as the future of digital sports broadcasting and the ideal home for ELEVEN. Sport is global entertainment, and joining with DAZN will be transformative, allowing us to access greater economies of scale and a global platform for our talented team. We couldn’t be more excited about this deal, and I’m really looking forward to working with Shay and the team at DAZN.”

Kevin Mayer, DAZN’s chairman, said: “This deal marks an acceleration of our strategy to diversify our offerings and leverage our fantastic sports properties and our platform into new markets and business models. Team Whistle is a growing business that has a proven track record in monetizing short-form content. It will be hugely valuable to DAZN as we look to generate the maximum value from our enviable rights portfolio, creating new formats of content to reach new audiences and generate powerful incremental revenue streams. We look forward to welcoming all our new colleagues.”

Andrea Radrizzani, ELEVEN’s founder and chairman and owner of Leeds United, said: “We have developed a successful sports media company in the last six years with ELEVEN, and we’re delighted that this journey continues. The merger will provide greater opportunities as a group to continue to build a global destination for sports fans, which was our mission from day one.”