DAZN

'Show me the money, boys!': The future of the sports media landscape

The spiralling cost of sports rights, the rise of women’s football and the threat that big tech companies pose to traditional broadcasters were some of the subjects covered in a lively session on the sporting media landscape.

Kicking off the discussion, session host Ade Adepitan asked whether the cost of sports rights had peaked? “We are facing intrinsic rights value headwinds,” admitted Warner Bros. Discovery Sports executive Andrew Georgiou, not least the concerns about the impact of increasing competition.

The mixing of sport's TV economy

It’s more of a trickle than a flood, but live sport is returning to free-to-air television. Women’s football, cricket’s new The Hundred competition and, most recently, Super League rugby have all signed deals that give terrestrial TV the right to show some live matches.

Super League rugby games will air on free-to-air TV for the first time in the competition’s history in 2022 after a two-year deal was agreed with Channel 4. Sky Sports will show the overwhelming majority of fixtures, while Channel 4 will show 10 games.

Kevin Mayer talks the future of DAZN and being the Netflix of sport

Kevin Mayer (Credit: Richard Kendal)

“I would love to see that on DAZN [in the UK],” revealed the Group Chairman, Kevin Mayer, one of the star speakers at the RTS Convention. 

“This is a huge market and [football] is an incredibly popular sport – it’s a high-quality experience for sports fans. Of course we’d want that.”

He added: “Football rights in major territories in Europe is [DAZN’s] centre of gravity.”

DAZN's Kevin Mayer: A man ahead of the curve

At the beginning of August, Reese Witherspoon sold her company, Hello Sunshine. Even in a world where film-stars-turned-brands have become 10 a penny, the Oscar winner made international headlines thanks to the jaw-dropping sale price – reportedly $900m. Witherspoon said she was “thrilled to be working with Blackstone, Kevin, and Tom to grow a next-generation media company”.