5 more years of Dazn, everyone can save themselves

And so the TV rights of Serie Aafter the usual stalemate that the various presidents have accustomed us to over the last five to six years, they were reassigned to Dazn. More specifically, to Dazn and Sky, for the minimum amount required by the league of 900 million per year (700 Dazn, 200 Sky) and with the usual formula of 3 co-exclusive games. This time, however, there is an innovation in the agreement: it will actually have a term of five years instead of the usual three. But putting aside the technical problems that Dazn has accustomed us to in recent seasons, the question remains: How can a company that has been in the red for two seasons win the television rights for the next five years?

Apparently, the lesson that Tim had already taught was not enough for Dazn: in the last three years, the streaming platform that has allied itself with Tim has taken the scepter of Italian football from Sky; There However, the quality of the product has deteriorated significantly and subscriptions didn’t take off, leading to Tim pulling out and leaving Dazn to cover the remaining costs. And if Dazn has made great progress on the infrastructural level from 2018 to today, the situation on the economic level is not exactly rosy.

The company’s official website has actually been published “The 2022 Annual Review”which speaks of a profit of 2.3 billion, an increase of 70% compared to 2021; What isn’t mentioned, however, is this given the losses.

Len Blavatnik’s company in the latest data we could find, namely the 2021 budget, he scored well $2.33 billion in red. This after the 1.4 billion reds in 2019 and the 1.3 billion in 2020. What we call is not a trivial number, even considering that in the last two years to produce its content so much To save money as much as possible, Dazn Italia comments on most Serie A games from its studio in Milan, without sending commentators to the stadium. A cost-saving choice, but a final product that obviously suffers, with an unfair inequality for the fans of the different teams and “consumers”.

The question then arises as to how it is possible to entrust the creation and production of Series A television content to a company that It lost around five billion euros in three years; and that to cover costs it now changes its subscription price list (upward, of course) twice a year. The same multinational whose executives have been accused by consumer associations, summoned by the government and insulted at least once by every customer across Italy. Because if we all thought it was just a painful three-year break, we now have to face the reality: Italian football did it delivered for at least another five years to a service that is certainly not impeccable.

In all this, Aurelio De Laurentiis interrupted Dal Pino in the press conference at the end of the television rights decision and sharply criticized the decision taken, which would not improve national football. Of course, many people point to the ADL alternative – the now famous one League Channel – he couldn’t bear it, and as an experienced man of cinema, the owner of Napoli limited himself to contradicting, without, however, proposing a real and reliable “government” proposal. Probably.

However, on some points it is really difficult not to agree with the words of the Napoli owner, especially when he talks about the duration of the bond and the investments: “The absolute stupidity of doing a five year dealWhen Arabia came into being six months ago, there is now a war whose developments no one knows where they will lead us – ADL said –. But we know that cinema and football are two things that are very powerful in times of crisis, they are the panacea for the pain of everyday life. We have put this dream in the drawer, perhaps even of our fans».

It still is: “I saw Arsenal-Chelsea, fantastic. Then I watch the Italian games: Shooting modes They make people laugh at our football. Did Dazn or Sky ever tell us about this?»

And in general, Italian football – apart from the money that it desperately clings to – dramatically lacks a vision, but also an “entrepreneurial” approach, aimed not only at selling the product and making money, but rather to invest in it, improve it and let it grow (also economically). But in the land of the leopard – actually it’s even worse because it’s not even here anymore Change everything to change nothing, nothing changes because nothing else changes – we always talk about the same problems. And in five years you can be sure that we will still be here; for now, however Let’s get ready for the next subscription increase.