DAZN launches ‘global home’ for the National League
By Charlie Dear
The English National League officially debuted on its new home at DAZN on Saturday 9 November. This coincided with National League TV (NLTV) being fully integrated into the streaming firm’s platform, offering coverage across the National League, National League North and National League South, which represents the fifth and sixth tiers of the English football pyramid.
York City triumphed over Hartlepool in a 5-3 thriller to kick off DAZN’s coverage with a bang! This marked the first of a huge 557 National League matches to be made available to stream live and in full on the platform; alongside additional highlights and replays.
Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN, commented on the original announcement of the deal: “DAZN’s technology makes us uniquely placed to create destinations for sports fans.
“This multi-year partnership with NLS will allow us to create a global home for the National League, helping fans better access the teams they are so passionate about while creating engagement opportunities to access new audiences.”
This new deal has NLTV rubbing shoulders with some esteemed and established company, alongside some of the world’s biggest sports leagues including NFL Game Pass, PGA Tour Pass and other channels within DAZN’s platform portfolio.
Stakeholders of the National League will likely be licking their lips, with this latest move opening up valuable commercial and sponsorship opportunities.
DAZN Bet has understandably put their National League markets front and centre of their site to capitalise on this new audience. But Sutton United’s commercial director Matthew Disley has also said national TV coverage can be a huge benefactor to clubs at this level of the game; citing online bookmaker SBK as a new sponsor for their FA Cup first round match against Birmingham City, to help expand the club’s local and national reach.
Mark Ives, general manager of the National League, previously stated: “We are incredibly excited about this groundbreaking long-term joint venture with DAZN, one of the biggest players in sports broadcasting and the deal demonstrates the continuing growth and reach of the National League.”
If any of the remaining live matches are anything like the first, then, whether it’s another bookmaker or further commercial partners taking an interest, it will only boost the National League’s exposure and revenues and prove to be a shrewd investment by DAZN.