DAZN, the sports streaming service powered by Perform Group, has signed an eight-year deal with sports events promotion company Matchroom Boxing to broadcast 16 live fight nights. The programming will be exclusively available to DAZN users in Canada.
The first fight to be streamed as part of the deal will be the Jessie Vargas v. Thomas Dulorme bout on Oct. 6 in Chicago. The Matchroom deal will last through August 2019 and also includes pre-fight and post-fight original programming produced by DAZN.
“For too long, the fight sports market in Canada has been underserved,” said Joseph Markowski, DAZN SVP, North America, in an official press release. “Our partnership with Matchroom allows us to drive our fans-first approach and give our users an opportunity to pay one monthly flat fee with no long-term contract or commitment, an unprecedented value proposition for fight fans.”
Terms of this partnership were not disclosed, but earlier this year DAZN agreed to a broader deal with Matchroom Boxing that was worth $1 billion. DAZN Canada maintains exclusive broadcasting rights to stream other live premium sports content in the country, such as the NFL, MLS, the UEFA Champions League, and WTA and ATP tennis.
In addition to Canada, DAZN is available in Austria, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, and the United States.
SportTechie Takeaway
The U.S. DAZN product that debuted earlier this month also heavily features fight sports as part of the OTT platform’s plan to build a user base stateside. Although DAZN comes at a higher price than other streaming services such as ESPN+ ($9.99 compared to $4.99 per month), the network does not air commercials (unless contractually obligated by a league) and will offer additional coverage during those breaks. In boxing, that might mean a close-up of a fighter in a corner or a cutaway to a trainer wearing a microphone.