DFL kicks off with Bundesliga rights tender

Source: Alamy

The German Football League, the DFL, has opened a media rights tender for the Bundesliga in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol, and East-Belgium for the four seasons from 2025-29.

The DFL will send applicants a letter detailing the procedure in the next few weeks. The procedure letter will include the schedule and procedural rules, including the deadlines and criteria for admission to the invitation to tender, the procedure for submitting bids, and the criteria and procedure for the allocation of the various rights packages.

Following that, the invitation to tender documentation will be sent to all qualifying companies. It will include the final structure of the rights packages and the other contractual provisions. The final decision is expected to be made in the second quarter.

The last rights auction led to a division of rights between Sky Deutschland and streamer DAZN, with a package of free rights going to ProSiebenSat.1.

The opening of the rights process comes a month after the DFL secured approval from the 36 Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga teams to negotiate a potential deal with an outside investor to boost investment. Under the agreement reached between the league and the teams, the DFL secured approval to sell a time-limited minority interest in licensing revenue from commercial rights – meaning media rights, sponsorship and licensing – up to a maximum of 8% over a 20-year period.

The approval was granted after the league stepped back from an earlier, more ambitious plan to create a new media rights company in which an equity stake would be sold to an outside investor.

On top of news of the latest rights auction, the DFL has announced the appointment of Silke Kuisie, formerly CFO of fan site OneFootball and head of corporate development at ProSiebenSat.1, as director of corporate strategy.

The league also named Bastial Zuber as managing director of DFL Digital Sports, heading up the DFL digital business development directorate. This new unit will promote the conception, evaluation and implementation of digital initiatives and growth projects within the DFL Group. Zuber was previously managing director of DFL’s Cologne-based subsidiary Digital Sports.

“As management, we have recently strengthened core economic issues. After the Audiovisual Rights and Institutional and Political Relations and Regulation directorates, the Corporate Strategy and Digital Business Development directorates form important additions to further develop the DFL Group in changing media markets,” said DFL co-CEO Marc Lenz.