DAZN and Mediaset partner for Copa del Rey bid

Mediaset has reportedly partnered up with OTT sports disruptor DAZN to bid for domestic rights to Spain’s Copa del Rey football competition.

According to local paper El Espanol, the organisations submitted a joint bid to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) during the third round of bidding in the tendering process for the 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons.

The body is looking to secure €45 million per season, though apparently no bid is anywhere near that amount yet. 

Before dropping out of the bidding, Mediapro claimed it offered €18 million and put out a statement describing the asking price as “absolutely exorbitant and out of the market.”

Mediapro previously paid €5.67 million per season between 2016-2019, with the handling of the right previously done by La Liga. 

Mediaset had earlier submitted a solo offer, while Telefónica and RTVE also submitted a joint offer but neither topped €13 million. 

With the earlier contest effectively thrown out, the RFEF set a new deadline of October 25. The last offers standing are from Movistar-RTVE and this new Mediaset-DAZN deal. 

DAZN declined to comment on the story, with a spokesperson telling Digital TV Europe: “We look at all opportunities but we don’t comment on speculation about specific rights tenders.”