The Chinese Super League has "grabbed most of the headlines" in Asian football lately with its high-profile signings, but a recent deal has Japan’s J.League "confident it will stay a league to watch over the coming years," according to John Duerden of the N.Y. TIMES. On July 20, the J.League signed a 10-year deal worth 210B yen ($2.05B) with British-based media company Perform Group "for the digital rights for its matches within Japan." Starting next year, Perform "will stream matches from the top three tiers" of Japanese football through its online platform, DAZN. J.League Chair Mitsuru Murai believes that "the deal with Perform could be a turning point" for Japanese football. Murai said, "I think that we are now in the second group of leagues after the first group, which includes the English Premier League and the Bundesliga in terms of revenue. We still need to make a great effort to make the J.League more attractive and brand the league for international fans." After the Japanese league started in '93, "it turned to Brazilian stars like Zico and Dunga to entrench itself in the hearts and minds of fans at home and overseas." Kawasaki Frontale coach Yahiro Kazama said, "The Chinese Super League looks like the early stage of J.League. Japan football is in a transitional period, but now we have a great chance to rethink how we can increase the value of the J.League together." While there are stipulations in the deal that require the league to invest in stadiums and other football infrastructure in Japan, it "is expected that Japanese clubs will receive considerable funds starting in 2017 to invest in players" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/8).
