Matchroom will now deliver around 40 shows globally, including 12 in the UK and 12 in the U.S., alongside Australia and Mexico events.
Eddie Hearn has opened up on the much discussed $1 billion DAZN deal, admitting the original agreement had to be restructured just a few years into its launch.
Speaking in an exclusive recent interview with Boxing King Media, the Matchroom Boxing promoter addressed the headline grabbing figure that was announced when DAZN entered the U.S. market.
“A lot of people talk about that $1 billion deal,” Hearn said. “That deal got restructured, you know, a couple of years in because it wasn’t really working if I’m honest.”
When DAZN first partnered with Matchroom in 2018, the strategy was aggressive. Major signings were made, huge guarantees were handed out, and the streaming platform aimed to disrupt traditional pay-per-view.
However, Eddie Hearn admitted the scale of investment did not initially match the size of the platform.
“At the time it was too much money for what we could deliver and how big the platform was at the time,” he explained. “You got massive rights fees and you got a tiny audience because the brand hadn’t really been built yet.”
The solution was a restructuring of the agreement to better reflect subscriber growth and commercial value.
The turning point, according to Hearn, came with the signing of Canelo Alvarez.
“Then we went in and did the Canelo Alvarez deal and that started to change everything. Then we were building the subscriber base and then all of a sudden DAZN were getting better value for money.”
Hearn also confirmed that the new global deal does not carry a publicly attached billion dollar headline figure.
“There’s not going to be a number for the global deal. But it’s a lot of money.”
Matchroom will now deliver around 40 shows globally, including 12 in the UK and 12 in the U.S., alongside Australia and Mexico events.
More importantly, Eddie Hearn says the deal gives fighters security.
“We can sit down with a fighter now and go, we have five years with this broadcaster. We guarantee you these fights. You’re in a very safe place.”
The era of headline billion-dollar announcements may be gone but Matchroom’s global expansion appears stronger and more stable than ever.
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