DAZN confirms intentions to become NBA local broadcast hub, continues to court former FanDuel teams

Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

London-based streaming service DAZN remains committed to breaking into the American market.

The company hopes to accomplish that by making an aggressive play for local NBA broadcast rights, both in the short-term and long-term. As has been previously reported, DAZN is engaging the 13 NBA teams left behind by Main Street Sports Group, owner of the FanDuel-branded regional sports networks, all of which will need to find short-term local broadcast solutions for next season.

For the first time, however, DAZN is publicly acknowledging its interest in becoming a long-term local broadcast solution for the NBA once the league launches its widely anticipated local broadcast streaming hub for the 2027-28 season. Pete Oliver, DAZN CEO of Growth Markets, told Sports Business Journal that the streamer is hoping to leverage short-term local broadcast deals for next season into a partnership to host the league’s centralized streaming hub in the future.

“Obviously [the NBA] will make their decision ultimately about who their partner is, and that’s their process and we’re very respectful of that,” Oliver told Sports Business Journal. “But let’s be clear, we want to be in that space.”

For now, DAZN is targeting the 13 teams in need of local broadcast deals for next season. Those teams are the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, Timberwolves, Thunder, Magic, and Spurs.

Oliver says DAZN is “willing to be flexible” with teams for next season, potentially negotiating contracts that have exit options after one year so teams can join the NBA’s centralized platform should it be ready by the 2027-28 season.