NEW YORK and LONDON — Already available in nine countries, sports streaming service DAZN says it will dramatically increase its global presence in 2020, with plans to expand to more than 200 countries and territories.
The first phase of DAZN’s global expansion will be an English-language service focused on boxing, building on the company’s investment in the sport over the past two years, says the news release. DAZN holds international rights to many of the world’s top promotional companies, including Golden Boy Promotions, Matchroom Boxing USA and GGG Promotions.
The first global event on DAZN will be Mexican boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez’s (pictured) soon-to-be-announced fight during Cinco de Mayo Weekend, which will take place on Saturday, May 2. Fighters such as Alvarez and Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin will be part of a robust year-round portfolio of premium fights and original programming on the new service, says the news release.
“Beginning this spring, most of the world will have access to DAZN and its unmatched schedule of boxing events,” said DAZN group executive chairman John Skipper, in the news release. “Our roster of championship fighters represents some of the world’s most popular athletes and we’ll be working with them to stage spectacular international events for years to come.”
“Since our launch in 2016, we’ve seen an encouraging level of interest around our key events from both international fans and potential partners, which highlighted the opportunity to capitalize on our existing rights portfolio within boxing to fuel our expansion,” added DAZN executive vice-president Joseph Markowski, who will oversee the global service. “Establishing DAZN as the global home of fight sports is just the first step and we couldn’t think of a better attraction for our inaugural event than Canelo’s traditional Cinco de Mayo Weekend fight.”
In addition to live sporting events, DAZN offers a growing archive of classic fights, athlete features and original programming such as 40 Days, The Making Of and One Night.
Currently, DAZN’s streaming service is available in Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. In Canada, it has pitched itself as the home of football, with a heavy selection of NFL and EPL games.
The DAZN app will be available globally on most Internet-connected devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, and living room devices such as smart TVs, streaming sticks and game consoles. Service pricing by market will be announced in the coming weeks.
For fans outside of DAZN’s existing markets that are interested in gaining early access to the service via the DAZN beta community, registration is open at DAZN.com. Official invites will be sent out later this month.
For more information about DAZN’s global expansion plans, please click here.
