Another NBA team is officially moving to DAZN.
The Indiana Pacers have reached an exclusive media rights deal with DAZN, it was announced Thursday, becoming the second NBA team whose local broadcasts will be solely distributed by the streaming platform. The Timberwolves announced a deal with DAZN last month. The majority of games will be available behind a DAZN paywall, but 22 will be provided free-of-charge — and as many as 15 could be simulcast on local over-the-air television.
Like the Timberwolves, the Pacers are among the 13 NBA teams whose games aired on the FanDuel Sports Network RSN last season. The collapse of the RSN’s parent company Main Street Sports Group has left those teams in need of new partners for the coming season. Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal has reported that the Cavaliers, Spurs and Grizzlies are also expected to reach deals with the London-based streamer.
Five other teams — the Hawks, Hornets, Heat, Bucks and Pistons — have announced deals with local OTA partners, and the Magic, Thunder and Clippers are reportedly expected to join them. DAZN is expected to acquire the streaming rights to some of those OTA teams, per Friend, including the Hornets and Magic.
The streamer has already acquired the streaming rights to the Knicks and Nets as part of a deal to become the exclusive streaming home of games on YES Network and MSG Network in New York (replacing the Gotham Sports app).
All of the DAZN deals are believed to allow teams to exit after this coming season, as the NBA expects to launch a centralized streaming platform for its local broadcasts in about a year. DAZN is said to be interested in becoming a home of that centralized platform, with the coming season serving as an audition of sorts. In a conversation with Friend, Pacers CEO and team president Mel Raines referred to DAZN as a “potential partner in that aggregated solution.”
Friend reported earlier this week that YouTube is in “advanced talks” to host the centralized platform, which next season could host 25 of the league’s 30 teams. A price tag would approach or exceed $1 billion per year, depending on how many teams eventually join the platform. DAZN is one of the other contenders, along with Amazon and ESPN.
