EGN NEWS DESK
Saudi Arabia, lengthy looking out for a world platform to showcase its sporting ambitions, is nearing the tip of its search.
The Persian Gulf kingdom is near buying as much as a ten p.c stake in DAZN, a sports-only community that has been privately funded by the billionaire businessman Len Blavatnik, in keeping with three folks aware of the discussions who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of no deal has been introduced. Saudi Arabia has lately moved from a standing begin to turn into the most important investor throughout the sports activities trade — shopping for into an array of leagues, groups and stars to upend the economics of many sports activities.
The deal, which is able to lead Saudi Arabia, by means of a unit of its sovereign wealth fund, to spend greater than a billion {dollars}, has been underneath dialogue for at the least a yr, in keeping with the three folks, because the cash-hemorrhaging enterprise and the Saudis solid a better hyperlink.
The community, which is out there as a streaming platform and on cable networks worldwide, is already the most important companion for Saudi Arabia’s rising portfolio of sports activities properties, together with its soccer league, tennis championships and top-tier boxing occasions.
Sports have been a key space for Saudi Arabia ever since its de facto chief, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, introduced plans in 2016 to pivot the dominion away from its reliance on oil by diversifying its financial system amid simultaneous efforts to liberalize the conservative Muslim nation.
Those efforts have poured billions of {dollars} into sports activities, offering alternatives for companies like DAZN, which is poised to interrupt even after years of losses that whole greater than $5 billion. As a part of its funding, Saudi Arabia will get a companion with a big footprint throughout a number of continents. It is not going to solely present a platform for reside sports activities and different sports-based programming, but additionally act as a billboard for Saudi Arabia. The wealth fund; Surj Sports Investment, the automobile getting used for the acquisition; and DAZN declined to remark.
One of the plans, in keeping with the folks aware of the discussions, is for DAZN, which is basically a subscription service, to broadcast content material from Saudi Arabia without cost. Such a transfer would observe DAZN’s announcement final month that it will broadcast FIFA’s Club World Cup without cost subsequent summer season.
An investor like Saudi Arabia is not like most market members, stated Gill Hind, director of TV at Enders Analysis, a analysis agency specializing in the media, leisure and telecoms sectors. For the dominion, monetary success issues lower than the elevated visibility for the sports activities properties it owns, together with its high soccer league.
“It’s a really completely different proposition for the Saudis,” Mr. Hind stated. “They’re doing it for various causes than can be typical for different buyers.”
The Saudi Arabian funding into DAZN follows months of hypothesis. Late final yr, the funding fund denied that it needed to personal a stake within the broadcaster.
DAZN just lately introduced that it was paying about $1 billion to broadcast a brand new World Cup for golf equipment owned by soccer’s governing physique, FIFA. Several different networks both declined to bid or provided multiples lower than DAZN for the occasion, which is able to happen within the United States this summer season. Saudi Arabia has cultivated a detailed relationship with FIFA and, specifically, its president, Gianni Infantino. Shortly after DAZN’s deal was introduced, Saudi Arabia was awarded the rights to host the FIFA males’s World Cup in 2034.
Saudi officers have additionally been concerned in talks for years about buying a stake in Qatar’s BeIN Media Group, proprietor of one other of the world’s largest sports activities networks. Those talks have taken place in opposition to the backdrop of an ongoing authorized battle between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which is looking for billions of {dollars} in damages after accusing the bigger gulf kingdom of orchestrating a yearslong piracy marketing campaign in opposition to the community.
“BeIn Media Group is contemplating quite a lot of strategic choices,” the corporate stated in an announcement, echoing feedback it first made in 2022. The dispute first flared throughout a vicious disagreement between Qatar and its regional neighbors in 2017, dragging on regardless of a normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia.
DAZN, primarily based in London, is owned by the Moscow-raised Mr. Blavatnik. A citizen of each the United States and Britain, he has spent years accumulating sports activities rights however has additionally incurred mammoth monetary losses throughout the course of. DAZN’s most up-to-date set of accounts is listed as overdue, in keeping with Companies House, Britain’s firms registry.
Those losses haven’t stopped the corporate from spending. In addition to being one of many high rights holders in markets the place it operates, it has been buying different companies. In December it purchased Foxtel in Australia from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp in a deal price about $2.1 billion.
