How DAZN's staff in Leeds are 'building a better world' for global sports fans

Staff based in Yorkshire are playing pivotal roles in transforming DAZN into the largest digital sports broadcaster in Europe by reducing the “friction and confusion” which has limited choice for consumers, according to its chief executive.
By Greg Wright
Published 17th Feb 2023, 11:00 BST

Shay Segev, DAZN’s CEO, said the company was re-shaping the way people watch sport. DAZN, which employs around 300 people at its main broadcast operations centre in Leeds, has the long term goal of bidding for the right to broadcast the Premier League in the UK.

A DAZN spokesman stressed that, without categorically ruling out bidding for the Premier League the next time the rights become available, this move would have to make economic sense for the business, taking into account factors such as the structuring of the different packages, the competition and the market value.

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DAZN, which now has 20m premium paying subscribers, already has the rights to the Champions League and Bundesliga in Germany, Serie A in Italy, LaLiga and Premier League in Spain.

Shay Segev, CEO of Dazn, analyses operations at his company's Leeds site in a live match environment photographed by Tony Johnson for The Yorkshire Post. 15th February 2023Shay Segev, CEO of Dazn, analyses operations at his company's Leeds site in a live match environment photographed by Tony Johnson for The Yorkshire Post. 15th February 2023
Shay Segev, CEO of Dazn, analyses operations at his company's Leeds site in a live match environment photographed by Tony Johnson for The Yorkshire Post. 15th February 2023

Mr Segev said: “We are trying to build for the consumer a better world, in terms of removing this friction and confusion and bringing all these experiences into a single destination platform.

"This is a journey; it's not a sprint, it won't take one year, it won't take five years, it will be probably 10 to 20 years but I do see a very clear vision where DAZN will become a destination platform, where every sports fan around the world will have the DAZN app on their phone.”

The DAZN Group’s 2022 Annual Review revealed that the sports platform streamed 1.2bn hours globally across 130m connected devices in 2022, which is an increase from the 1bn hours and more than 100m devices it served in 2021.

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Mr Segev was previously CEO of Entain, a FTSE 100 sports betting and gaming company, where he was responsible for a strong period of growth, including the acquisition of bwin.party and Ladbrokes Coral, and the establishment of US market leader BetMGM. Earlier in his career, he held executive positions at Playtech, Gala Coral and global software company Mercury Interactive

He added: “DAZN has established and developed an office in Leeds because there is a lot of talent here. As we continue to expand the business we will need to expand our capabilities. As we continue to grow into more markets and license more content it will have a very linear and immediate impact on the size of this office.”

Mr Segev added: “It's good for us and the people who live and work here (in Leeds); it's a win win situation.”

DAZN has recently signed an agreement with the Professional Fighters League to create PFL Europe and it also has exclusive global broadcasting rights to the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

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DAZN also secured a deal to acquire the ELEVEN Group's global sports media businesses, which places it in a leading position in Portugal and Belgium.

At the end of last year, DAZN, which describes itself as the highest grossing sports app of 2022, was live in 225 countries and territories.

How DAZN is revolutionising sports: Page 27

Related topics:DAZNLeedsEuropeYorkshirePremier League