Dazn acquires Eleven Group’s global sports media business

The takeover bid would draw Eleven Sports and Team Whistle under its wing, fulfilling a triple-pronged desire to broaden geographic reach, introduce a new social media revenue stream and expand its football rights.

Specifically, this will see Dazn broadcast upper-flight matches in both Portugal and Belgium, complementing existing strengths in Italy and Spain. The deal also gives Dazn a foothold in Taiwan and other South East Asian nations.

Eleven Group chief executive officer Marc Watson said: “We see Dazn as the future of digital sports broadcasting and the ideal home for Eleven. Sport is global entertainment and joining with Dazn will be transformative, allowing us to access greater economies of scale and a global platform for our talented team.”

By drawing Team Whistle into the mix, Dazn will also improve engagement with younger audiences – part of efforts to position the service as a go-to social media agency for football sponsors. Chairman Kevin Mayer added: “Team Whistle is a growing business that has a proven track record in monetizing short-form content. It will be hugely valuable to Dazn as we look to generate the maximum value from our enviable rights portfolio, creating new formats of content to reach new audiences and generate powerful incremental revenue streams.”

The deal covers no less than 40,000 livestreamed football matches every year, significantly expanding Dazn’s rights portfolio with over 90 Fifa member associations.

Eleven founder Andrea Radrizzani, owner of Leeds United, will serve as an executive director on Dazn’s board following the merger, which is subject to an anti-trust review.