German football league generates 4.5bln euros in broadcasting rights auction

FRANKFURT: The German football league, which allocates broadcasting rights for the first and second Bundesliga, will award some 4.5 billion euros ($4.76 billion) to the country’s 36 professional clubs over the next four years, its association said on Thursday.

The Deutsche Fussball Liga’s (DFL) auction for the next rights period, spanning the 2025/26 to 2028/29 seasons, generated 84 million euros more than the previous four-year period, committee spokesperson Hans-Joachim Watzke said in Frankfurt.

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This marks a 2 per cent increase, at a time when the value of such rights has tended to go down internationally.

“We have shown that the league is very attractive,” said Watzke.

Sky Deutschland and DAZN are to share the pay-to-view TV rights, while public broadcaster ARD will remain the rights holder for the first free-TV transmission of most of the matches.