The Bundesliga’s television deal in the United States with Versant has been hotly debated, but the German football league is confident the arrangement will be successful.
“The key headline for us is that we are expanding our accessibility in the U.S. while simultaneously delivering strong financial results,” Robin Austermann, EVP for Bundesliga Americas, told Sports Business Journal. “We are quite happy that we also delivered a strong commercial result in a challenging market.
“We see a clear commitment
from them to really invest into it, to build the story, to tell the Bundesliga story, because this is pretty new,” Austermann said. “They wouldn’t acquire an international sports league and put it on the channel if there wouldn’t be that overall ambition to grow.”
Most English-language matches will be broadcast for free (as of now) on Fandango, while the USA network will also broadcast 30+ games exclusively. While ESPN and Paramount+ were reportedly in on the bidding, the Bundesliga took a significant hit on the deal as Versant will only pay $20 million per season, while the ESPN deal was worth $30-$34 million.
As of now, fans also do not know if Versant will carry the DFB-Pokal and 2. Bundesliga. As for Versant’s plans, Sports Business Journal detailed how the entity became a bidder in the process:
A source close to negotiations said that adding sports to Fandango was something Versant had been thinking about since the NBCU split, and soccer presented a great opportunity given the young demos that the sport delivers. The source added that the goal is establish sports viewing habits at Fandango and fill out the platform with other sports in the future.
USA Network already airs Premier League games. There may be opportunities for doubleheaders with the Bundesliga on the cable TV network.
Austermann noted the Bundesliga will have to educate and shift fans to USA Network and Fandango, but he also gave credit to Versant CEO Mark Lazarus and USA Sports President Matt Hong in convincing the league that this move could work.
The Premier League is rumored to get $450 million per season from NBC / Peacock, while LaLiga has a contract for $1.4 billion over eight years ($175 million per season) per reports.
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