Sport arbitration tribunal rules in favour of the DFL in Eurosport termination case

13 August 2020 – In a sport arbitration hearing before the German Arbitration Institute (DIS), a tribunal has declared the notice of termination of the current usage rights contract given by Eurosport at the end of April, due to the temporary suspension of play due to the COVID-19 pandemic to be ineffective. The arbitration award has the same effect between the parties as a final and binding court judgement. Therefore, the rights deal between the DFL and Eurosport therefore remains in place. The grounds for the arbitration award have not yet been stated.

As a result of the 2016 call for tenders, Eurosport acquired ‘rights package A’ for the entire 2017-18 to 2020-21 rights cycle. The package encompasses the live broadcast rights for the Friday evening, Sunday afternoon and Monday evening matches of the Bundesliga, the Supercup and the relegation play-offs. For the past 2019-20 season, Eurosport had sub-licensed these rights to the streaming provider DAZN.