Indiana Pacers Companion With DAZN As New Streaming Residence For Video games

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 03: A element view of the Indiana Pacers emblem after the sport towards the Utah Jazz at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on February 03, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Bobby Goddin/Getty Images)

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INDIANAPOLIS – DAZN (pronounced Da-Zone) is the brand new streaming dwelling for Indiana Pacers basketball.

The Pacers introduced the partnership on Thursday morning, offering solutions to followers who questioned the place to observe the group this season. Main Street Sports Group, who owned the earlier broadcast for the group, is officially winding down. The Pacers wanted a brand new associate and picked DAZN over a few dozen choices.

“This partnership is about making Pacers basketball more accessible than ever before,” Pacers Sports & Entertainment President and CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment Mel Raines stated in a press release.

Accessibility was a significant speaking level on Wednesday because the Pacers defined their choice to stream video games on DAZN. Chief Commercial Officer Joey Graziano detailed that in 2010, within the prime of cable, about 88% of their market had entry to paid tv. Now? That’s all the way down to about 30%. That indicators to Graziano that followers are accessing their lives way more through the web, so placing the Pacers primarily there felt like one of the best ways to succeed in followers.

“Having something that felt accessible across a variety of different modes and channels,” he stated. “And so that means your phone, that also may mean the tablet that you have, it may mean your gaming console, it may mean your smart television. And we wanted something that would meet our fans exactly where they are.”

In the primary yr of the partnership between DAZN and the Pacers, 22 video games and 4 preseason outings shall be streamed at no cost on the DAZN app. 15 of these 22 video games may also air on a neighborhood over-the-air broadcast associate, which shall be decided nicely earlier than the season begins. That deal shall be made between the air-the-air associate and DAZN.

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The Pacers, and different NBA groups that finally find yourself streaming on DAZN, could have their very own hub proper within the DAZN app. That’s the place followers can join and stream video games. Pacers on DAZN will launch later this summer time previous to the 2026-27 NBA season.

DAZN will provide a seven-day free trial in addition to an Early Bird Season Pass – that may include a price ticket of $59.99 and can unlock each paid recreation. Once that particular ends, the value of the Pacers surroundings shall be $119.99 for the yr or $19.99 per 30 days.

“With [Tyrese Haliburton] coming back, the start of our season is going to be pretty anticipated,” Graziano stated of the free trial. “We wanted to make sure that that was going to be available.”

Graziano additionally made notice of the value factors and that with the Early Bird Season Pass, it’s about $1 per recreation. Lots of thought went into the pricing mannequin, one thing that DAZN has expertise with due to their large number of choices.

“Things are nuanced from a market-by-market perspective, but [we] put a lot of certain research using data we have on performance across the board and other sort of similar scenarios,” DAZN Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Zander Berlinski stated of the pricing selections. He expects the value to stay comparable in future years as nicely however acknowledged that they’ll consider what did and didn’t work for followers after the primary season. The 15 over-the-air video games will stay past 2026-27.

By going with the streaming route, the Pacers can simply attain followers inside their native bubble in new methods. Their dwelling tv territory consists of Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. Fans in that space will be capable to watch the group by way of the DAZN app.

DAZN is a digital-first firm, and so they haven’t any cable integration plans with the Pacers presently. Their 15 over-the-air video games shall be out there on linear tv, and the Pacers are conscious of the challenges that will include that.

“Of course we’re concerned about it. We’re concerned about all of our fans, and we’re going to be incredibly responsive to any concerns that come about for that,” Graziano stated when requested what the group’s older followers may say about this partnership. He then pointed to DAZN’s 24/7 tech help as a useful resource. “We’re going to be responsible for all of those fans. And so we’ve got certainly thoughts to think about, how do we make sure that those fans are able to download the app to be able to get it onto their devices? We’ve got an entire marketing and digital team who’s hyper-focused on fan feedback that comes from our press release, and we will be responsive to fans who have concerns about their ability to be able to access.”

The deal between the Pacers and DAZN is 5 years in size, however the NBA required groups to have a possible out of their broadcast contracts in case an aggregated answer with each group had been to come up. “When we were looking at partners, one of the things we wanted to do was… to find somebody who we thought could be what the league refers to as their aggregated solution, where you would aggregate all the teams,” Raines stated. “And DAZN is certainly a top potential partner that’s been in the news for that.”

DAZN has a large international footprint – 300 million customers, in response to Berlinski – with about 85% of them coming internationally. They are hoping to maneuver into extra U.S. markets and have already secured streaming offers with several New York sports teams and the Minnesota Timberwolves, with extra NBA bulletins but to return.

Some NBA groups have opted to broadcast their video games completely over-the-air. There had been challenges for the Pacers that saved them from selecting that route.

“Some markets have the opportunity with a Scripps or a Gray to have an empty channel that’s already bought into the lower tier of Comcast or Spectrum or those kinds of channels – DirecTV, Dish. That’s not available in our market right now. As you know, there’s been a lot of consolidation,” Raines defined. “And so unfortunately, we didn’t have that opportunity. But frankly, we wouldn’t have reached… As many people. And so our goal here is to make everyone a fan. We have a company mission.” Accessibility is a giant a part of that mission.

The Pacers broadcast group of Jeremiah Johnson, Chris Denari, Quinn Buckner, and Eddie Gill will return and name video games within the coming season, which begins in about two months. And for the Pacers, it would start on a brand new streaming dwelling.

“Local sports broadcasting has evolved significantly over the last decade and so has the way people watch games,” Raines stated. “DAZN is a global leader in sports streaming, and its premium viewing experience gives our fans more flexibility and affordable access to Pacers basketball, while creating more opportunities to connect with the team.”