La Liga has ambitions to generate more broadcast revenue by opening the bidding process for its next broadcast rights cycle
La Liga has moved the auction window forward for its next domestic broadcast rights cycle, according to a report from Spanish sports news outlet Diario AS.
The report revealed the Spanish top-flight football league is opening the next broadcast rights cycle (2027/28 to 2031/32) earlier in order to attract greater profits from “primera parties”.
La Liga and its President Javier Tebas are also strategically accelerating the process in order to gain more revenue than the annual $1.145bn (€990m) it is currently earning from its current domestic broadcast rights agreement with DAZN and Movistar+, which expires at the end of the 2026/27 season.
Incumbent parties have been set a November 28 deadline for bids with agreements set to be announced on December 11.
The league is reportedly interested in signing several agreements with interested parties to accumulate as much revenue as possible. There is a view to package some broadcast rights for “exclusivity” of a selected number of games onto one broadcast platform.
Under the current domestic broadcast rights agreement, La Liga games are divided evenly between Movistar and DAZN, five games each. This was the first time the league adopted a hybrid model, which saw its broadcast revenue increase by 1% from the previous rights agreement which Movistar owned exclusively.
Diario AS revealed as part of the next broadcast rights cycle, games could be split unevenly between Movistar and DAZN, seven games on Movistar and three games on DAZN for example, if they are interested in the next cycle.
Matches for the Segunda Division – Spain’s second-tier football league – and those broadcasted on the Horeca channel in bars, will not be available to incumbent Primera parties.
Netflix & Amazon interest
The report also revealed global streaming platforms Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are supposedly interested in acquiring domestic La Liga broadcast rights.
Both streaming giants are believed to be in a “more optimal time to bid”, according to Diario AS and their early interest “could also push platforms such as Movistar and DAZN to raise their offers”.
While not explicitly outlined in the report, La Liga’s decision to move the auction process forward could be a play to gauge the interest from Netflix and Prime Video to either replace or join Movistar and DAZN.
European football leagues have agreed deals with streaming services in the past to broadcast a select number of games. The Premier League had a six-year broadcast partnership with Prime Video to show up to 20 league games in the UK per season.
The streaming service was ultimately dropped as part of the new broadcast deal that was struck between the Premier League, Sky Sports and TNT Sports for this season onwards.
La Liga have already begun showcasing games on streaming platforms this season. Disney+ will broadcast one league game per season until the end of the 2027/28 in the UK and Ireland.
Premier Sports will remain the primary broadcaster across both territories, continuing to show more than 300 matches each season.
