The Saudi Arabian company SURJ Sports Investment has agreed to buy a minority stake in the sports broadcaster DAZN.
SURJ, described on the website of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) as “a PIF company specializing in sports investments”, was launched in 2023 and will work with DAZN on “establishing DAZN MENA (Middle East and North Africa) — a broadcasting joint venture”, per a press release accompanying Monday’s announcement.
In October, a PIF spokesperson denied it had plans to invest in DAZN, telling Reuters the fund was “not currently engaged in discussions with DAZN” and it had “no current plans to invest in the company.”
Saudi Arabia has invested significantly in football in recent years, most notably in 2022 as the PIF took control of four domestic teams — Al Ahli, Al Hilal, Al Ittihad and Al Nassr — in the Saudi Pro League (SPL). A series of high-profile players moved from Europe to the Middle Eastern nation, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema. In 2021, PIF completed its takeover of Premier League club Newcastle United.
DAZN has broadcast rights to various football competitions around the world, as well as boxing, basketball and MMA.
GO DEEPER
Explained: FIFA and DAZN’s $1billion broadcast deal for the 2025 Club World Cup
PIF also invests heavily in other sports. It owns the LIV golf series and is hopeful about its proposed merger with the PGA Tour. PIF has also committed as much as $100million to tennis sponsorships of the men’s rankings and multiple tournaments, agreeing in February to a five-year partnership that includes naming rights for the ATP rankings.
Saudi Arabia is also becoming a home for elite boxing, with Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk among those to have fought in the capital of Riyadh in recent years.
Saudi Arabia’s move into boxing has been led by Turki Al-Sheikh, chair of the General Entertainment Authority, who has become one of the most influential figures in the sport. Al-Sheikh has been the owner of the Spanish soccer club Almeria since 2019.
Analysis
By Matt Slater
While there are no figures in the press release, it is widely believed — and not denied — that DAZN founder Sir Len Blavatnik has sold less than 10 per cent of the sports streamer to SURJ, the sports arm of PIF, for $1billion.
Coincidentally, this is the same amount that DAZN paid FIFA in early December for the global rights to this summer’s Club World Cup, which the London-based streamer intends to pump out free of charge. Before this agreement, FIFA had been struggling to find media partners who agreed with its valuation of the four-week, 32-team extravaganza.
In a further coincidence, the deal was announced a week before FIFA confirmed that Saudi Arabia, the only bidder, would indeed be hosting the 2034 men’s World Cup.
Does this mean there is a direct link between that World Cup award and this investment in FIFA’s new best broadcast friend? We will let you be the judge of that.
But what we can definitely say is this deal has obvious benefits for DAZN and Saudi Arabia that go beyond scratching FIFA’s back.
Founded in 2007, DAZN has burned through billions of pounds trying to become the “Netflix of sports”. Last month, it reported a £1.2billion ($1.51bn) loss for 2023, with Blavatnik forced to inject another £665million into the business. Despite these losses, it says it is inching towards profitability and has continued to buy up sports rights and rival businesses. Saudi backing will certainly help.
And in return, the Saudis get a piece, which will almost certainly grow, of a global media platform to rival beIN Sports, the MENA powerhouse from neighbouring Qatar.
DAZN is already the streamer-of-choice for Saudi boxing and football. In terms of long-term significance, the second bullet point in the press release about the two parties working on the creation of “broadcasting joint venture” DAZN MENA is probably the real news here.
(Max Maiwald/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
