Who will show the DFB team in the future?
The big TV puzzle about 60 international matches
3/21/2022, 5:53 p.m
In fact, the Nations League starts in less than three months. But in Germany there is still no TV station for broadcasting the games of the German national soccer team. The same applies to 59 other games of the DFB selection until 2028.
For the next two games, the question can be answered with certainty: on which TV channel can fans watch the games of the German national soccer team? But there is no answer for the upcoming encounters in the Nations League. The game against Israel on Saturday is on ZDF, the game against the Netherlands three days later will be broadcast on ARD. Who shows the game on June 4th in Italy, however, is completely open. And the same applies to 59 other games of the DFB selection until 2028. Because no buyer has been found for the media rights so far.
Through the agency CAA Eleven, UEFA has tendered the most extensive rights package in its history. In addition to the 60 games of the German team, more than 1200 other games are for sale. A broadcaster could buy anything, at least in theory. “In view of the total financial volume, but also for program considerations, I do not think it is likely that a single media company would acquire all the games in the advertised package,” said rights expert Christian Frodl from the law firm Klinkert Rechtsanwälte. The price is estimated at a total of more than half a billion euros.
UEFA declined to comment in detail. The association only announced this much: The sales process for the German market began on November 12 last year, and the official end for the submission of offers by media companies was December 10th. UEFA’s offer consists of several parts. The largest sub-package is the qualifiers for the 2024 and 2028 European Championships and for the 2026 World Cup. There are also three Nations League seasons (2022/23, 2024/25 and 2026/27) and test matches on offer. At the same time, the rights for the 2028 European Football Championship will also be offered.
It needs good navigation
UEFA “should try to keep the fragmentation of rights within bounds in the interests of the customer,” said Frodl, who used to work for DFL and Sky in rights trading. “Soccer fans are already expected to have very good navigation skills.” In other words, it’s very confusing, even with international matches. Nations League games without German participation recently ran on the paid streaming service DAZN. And due to a contract from 2016, RTL is allowed to show test matches of the DFB selection again this November.
Due to the high costs, only ARD/ZDF, the RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1 are considered potential buyers for the transmission rights to the DFB games. The fact that no deals have been signed yet is also due to the fact that UEFA started the sales process via CAA Eleven later than originally planned – but of course primarily because of the price. The German games are very popular, the other games not so much. The period up to 2028 is also very long for the planning of private broadcasters. According to UEFA, there are currently only deals in smaller markets such as Austria, Belgium or the Scandinavian countries.
It is at least reassuring for the fans to know that they will be able to watch the German national soccer team’s games in the future at no additional cost. According to the Interstate Broadcasting Agreement, they must be shown on free-to-air television.