The Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs will produce their own local broadcasts next season. DAZN will turn those broadcasts into streaming subscriptions.
Beginning with the 2026–27 NBA season, DAZN will carry every locally produced Cavs and Spurs game that isn’t exclusive to a national partner. Fans will find the games, pregame shows, postgame shows and team programming inside dedicated sections of the DAZN app.
Both subscriptions start at $19.99 per month or $119.99 for the season. Both teams retain control over the broadcasts viewers receive.
The division of labor is straightforward. The teams make the product. DAZN supplies the app, processes the payment and delivers the stream.
The Cavs and Spurs add two more markets to DAZN’s growing local-NBA business. Their matching prices and team-controlled production show how DAZN is turning those agreements into a repeatable product.
The Teams Kept the Show
The Cavs are moving game production into the team-owned Rock Entertainment Sports Network.
The existing broadcast team will remain in place. The production will expand from six cameras to 19 and add Cosm’s 10.5K camera system, data overlays, alternate feeds and mixed-reality features.
The team can decide how games look, which announcers call them, how sponsors appear and which footage gets reused across social media, team apps and other programming.
The Spurs are taking the same basic approach. The team will oversee and manage production of all its local games, while DAZN distributes the finished broadcasts.
That control gives both organizations more than a way to replace FanDuel Sports Network. It gives them the ability to build programming around their teams throughout the season.
A regional sports network once made many of those production and distribution decisions. The Cavs and Spurs are separating the jobs and keeping production for themselves.
DAZN Is Selling the Subscription
DAZN is responsible for the part most teams aren’t built to operate.
It supplies the apps for connected TVs, phones, tablets, game consoles and web browsers. It manages subscriptions, payments, account access, customer service and live delivery.
Each team receives a dedicated area inside the service rather than asking fans to navigate DAZN’s complete international sports catalog.
The Cavs and Spurs don’t have to build their own apps, support dozens of devices or operate a subscription business from scratch. DAZN doesn’t have to hire the announcers or produce every game.
DAZN’s acquisition of ViewLift gave it technology for operating team, league and regional sports products. The Cavs and Spurs agreements show DAZN using that larger capability to sell local teams directly to fans.
The financial terms haven’t been disclosed. The public announcements don’t show how subscription revenue, advertising sales or customer data will be divided.
Those terms determine how much subscription revenue, customer data and control remain with the teams, and how much belongs to DAZN.
Two Teams Are Selling Nearly the Same Product
The Cavs and Spurs packages use the same basic pricing.
A standard subscription costs $19.99 monthly or $119.99 for the season. An Ultimate subscription costs $24.99 monthly or $139.99 for the season.
The higher tier adds features including multiview, alternate feeds, additional camera angles and more simultaneous streams. Cavs Ultimate customers also receive a one-time 15% team-store discount.
That consistency is useful to DAZN. It can create one local-basketball product and adapt the branding, territory and programming for each team.
The differences come from how the teams use the subscription.
Cavs full-season and half-season ticket members receive access at no additional charge. Spurs season-ticket members receive a 20% discount.
The Cavs are using DAZN as another benefit inside a larger customer relationship. The Spurs are asking their most committed customers to make a separate purchase at a reduced price.
DAZN can compare activation, viewing and retention across both approaches.
Free Games Sell the Paid Season
Neither team is placing every local game behind the subscription.
The Cavs will make 15 regular-season games and four preseason games available free through DAZN to viewers with a free account. The 15 regular-season games will also be simulcast over the air.
The Spurs will carry 22 games on free local TV through a broadcast partner that hasn’t been announced. DAZN will stream 67 regular-season games and all five preseason games within the team’s territory.
Free distribution plays different roles in Cleveland and San Antonio.
In Cleveland, the free DAZN games become customer acquisition. A viewer creates an account, watches the upgraded production and can be offered the paid season. DAZN gains a registered user even when that viewer doesn’t subscribe immediately.
San Antonio’s 22 over-the-air games protect reach but don’t automatically give DAZN an account or customer. Those viewers remain outside the app unless the broadcast persuades them to subscribe.
Cleveland is using free streaming to feed the paid product. San Antonio is using free TV to maintain the audience surrounding it.
The Upgrade Is a Fan-Loyalty Test
Local sports subscriptions have a limited audience. DAZN has to generate more money from the fans most willing to pay.
The Ultimate tier tests whether alternate feeds, extra camera angles, multiview and more simultaneous streams can raise the value of a single-team package.
Some features solve recognizable problems. Additional streams help households with several fans. Multiview becomes useful when local games overlap with national sports. Alternate feeds can support different announcers, languages, betting data or presentation styles.
The risk is charging extra for features fans rarely use.
A viewer buying the Cavs or Spurs is primarily paying to watch the team. Production features can increase satisfaction, but they won’t compensate for missed games, unreliable streams or confusing territorial restrictions.
DAZN should measure Ultimate adoption, feature usage, downgrades and retention before treating the higher tier as proof that fans want a more complicated product.
One Team Creates a Seasonal Churn Problem
An individual team can produce frequent viewing during the season and almost none after it ends.
A monthly customer can subscribe in October, cancel when the season ends and return the following year. A customer whose team performs poorly can leave earlier.
The season pass gives DAZN more money upfront. It doesn’t solve the gap between seasons.
DAZN needs several teams and sports with overlapping schedules so the app remains useful throughout the year. It can recommend boxing, soccer, women’s sports or another local team before a subscriber cancels.
The Spurs agreement helps because the subscription can also include select San Antonio FC matches, Austin Spurs games and programming produced by Spurs Sports & Entertainment.
DAZN can use the same account to sell a broader relationship with the organization instead of one NBA schedule.
The company is applying a similar strategy outside the home through its pending acquisition of EverPass Media. Consumer subscriptions, team technology and commercial distribution give DAZN several ways to earn money from sports it doesn’t produce.
The Cavs and Spurs Reveal DAZN’s Repeatable Product
DAZN already has local-team agreements with the Timberwolves and Pacers, along with distribution deals for MSG and YES programming. The Cavs and Spurs added two team-controlled products with identical base and Ultimate pricing.
Hours after this article was published, the Orlando Magic adopted the same template. The Magic package costs $19.99 monthly or $119.99 per season, while the Ultimate tier costs $24.99 monthly or $139.99 per season. The service includes a seven-day trial, and season-ticket members receive a 20% season-pass discount. The team will maintain free local distribution through Cox Media Group stations.
DAZN can now approach other teams with an operating template:
- The team retains its brand and production.
- DAZN carries every available local game.
- The basic package costs $19.99 monthly or $119.99 per season.
- A higher tier adds viewing features.
- Free TV or free streams maintain reach.
- Ticket members receive complimentary access or a discount.
- Additional team programming fills the schedule between games.
Each organization can change the benefits without rebuilding the complete service.
That reduces the time and cost required to launch another team. It also gives DAZN data from several markets to improve pricing, promotions and retention.
The company still has to prove that fans will pay. FanDuel Sports Network previously placed many of these games inside a larger pay-TV package. DAZN is asking viewers to assign a visible monthly price to one local team.
Cleveland and San Antonio will provide two early answers.
The Teams Are Renting Part of the Customer Relationship
The Cavs and Spurs gain control over production while handing DAZN important parts of distribution.
DAZN operates the account, the app and the payment process. It can see when viewers subscribe, what devices they use, how long they watch and when they cancel.
The teams will need enough access to that information to sell tickets, merchandise, sponsorships and future products effectively.
They also need protection if DAZN changes its pricing, product priorities or customer policies. Moving to another distributor becomes harder once fans associate the subscription with the DAZN app.
The deals solve an immediate problem created by the collapse of FanDuel Sports Network. They also create a new dependency.
The old RSN sat between the team and the viewer. DAZN now occupies part of that position, even when the team owns the broadcast.
The Streaming Wars Take
The Cavs and Spurs are replacing their former regional sports-network distribution with the same streaming operator.
The teams control production, announcers, sponsorship inventory and the programming built around their games. DAZN supplies the consumer product required to sell that work directly.
Cleveland gives DAZN a multi-year local-rights relationship and an upgraded team-produced broadcast. San Antonio adds 67 regular-season games, five preseason games and programming from the larger Spurs organization.
The Magic’s matching prices and features confirm that DAZN isn’t creating a different service for every team. It is building a local-sports subscription it can repeat across markets.
The scorecard is paid subscribers, free-account conversion, viewing hours, Ultimate adoption, in-season retention and the percentage of fans who return the following year.
The Cavs and Spurs took back the broadcast. DAZN now has to prove it can sell it.
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