Bundesliga CEO Christian Seifert has been “disappointed” by Fox Sports’ U.S. coverage of the German soccer league, according to SportBusiness.
Fox Sports signed a deal in 2015 to be the Bundesliga’s exclusive U.S. broadcast partner through the 2019-20 season, which concludes in May. Once that deal expires, subscription streaming service ESPN+ will takeover as the league’s new U.S. distribution partner due to a six-year deal the Bundesliga signed with ESPN last month.
Seifert reportedly feels that Fox’s coverage of the Bundesliga has been too widespread, with games appearing on the main Fox Sports network as well as the FS1 and FS2 cable channels. He claims the variation has triggered a disconnect among viewers.
“I was a little bit disappointed from Fox as a partner because it’s hard as a U.S. Bundesliga fan to get used to the Bundesliga if you play one time on that channel and one time on [another] channel and then again on that channel,” Seifert said, according to SportBusiness.
SportBusiness also reports that the Bundesliga’s new deal with ESPN is worth about $30 million per season. That number would far exceed the reported amount of $7 million per season that Fox Sports paid for Bundesliga rights.
All 306 Bundesliga matches per season will stream on ESPN+ starting in August 2020. Matches will stream both live and on-demand. At least four matches each season will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2, which is a drastic decrease in the amount of Bundesliga matches that appeared on Fox’s linear TV channels.
