Versant, the spin-off division of the NBCUniversal (NBCU) US media giant, has struck an exclusive, five-season rights deal with German soccer's top-tier Bundesliga.
The 18-team league will be shown by Versant from the start of 2026-27, through the 2030-31 season, via an exclusive English-language tie-up.
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Over 300 games will be shown live every season, through both USA Network and the Fandango platform attached to Versant, which, up until this point, has been best known for its video-on-demand service.
At least 30 games will be shown via the linear USA Network, while the others will stream free-to-air on Fandango.
The deal is reportedly worth $100 million in total and was negotiated with the support of Relevent Sports, the global sports and media rights company.
In 2024, Relevent agreed a long-term strategic partnership with the Bundesliga to expand its commercial activities in the Americas region.
A key aspect of the tie-up included Relevent marketing the media rights to Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches across the Americas from the start of the 2026-27 season and over several rights cycles. This is based on a mutually agreed strategy and joint sales approach.
The past six seasons have seen Bundesliga games air in the US (English-language) on major sports broadcaster ESPN, with that deal unveiled in late 2019.
This new deal gets underway with the season-opening German Supercup, which will take place on August 22 and will see Bayern Munich take on Borussia Dortmund.
Players from the US currently plying their trade in the Bundesliga include Malik Tillman at Bayer Leverkusen and Giovanni Reyna at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Robin Austermann, executive vice president at the Bundesliga Americas division, commented: "The 2026 World Cup has highlighted the tremendous growth potential of soccer in the US.
"Our partnership with Versant’s USA Sports marks the next phase of our strategy, combining outstanding distribution with significant growth opportunities by bringing the Bundesliga closer to more fans across the United States than ever before.”
In terms of recent Bundesliga media rights activity, earlier this month, Zee Entertainment, the Indian media enterprise that only recently re-entered the sports market, snapped up rights.
Sportcal understands that the agreement, which covers the linear broadcast and digital streaming rights, will span the next five seasons.
For USA Network, meanwhile, this deal adds to its existing soccer rights stable – it already covers England's top-tier Premier League.
The overall USA Network sports portfolio also includes women's basketball's WNBA, golf, and US college sports.
Versant was created in November 2024 (and completed as a spin-off in January) and then named as such in May of last year.
Earlier this month, it entered into a deal to buy sports technology (hardware and software) firm Full Swing from Bruin Capital.
