The Cavaliers on Tuesday became the third NBA team to exclusively house their local broadcasts on DAZN this upcoming season, with a flexible arrangement that allows owner Dan Gilbert’s emerging Rock Entertainment Sports Network to produce the games in-house.

The collaboration validates DAZN’s self-proclaimed “agnostic” approach to its trio of exclusive NBA deals — which includes 15 games in front of the paywall for the T’Wolves, 22 for the Pacers and now 15 free games for the Cavs, who will debut a Next Gen template rarely trialed on local NBA telecasts.

“Our goal is to rival any national broadcast that may be out there,” said Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group, the Cavs and Rocket Arena.

Not only will the Cavs production team triple its number of high-tech cameras from six to 19, but its DAZN telecasts will utilize predictive AI, data-centric overlays, reimagined graphics and mixed and augmented reality courtesy of Famous Group during game intros. Cosm’s ultra-high resolution 10.5K cameras will be integrated, as well, for sweeping immersive angles — all part of why Gilbert launched Rock Entertainment Sports Network (RESN) in August 2024 while games were still being shown on the FanDuel Sports Network.

“We wanted to build the muscle of what it meant to produce our own games and really control our destiny relative to our own content,” Barlage said, when asked about the origins of RESN.

According to industry sources, the deal with DAZN provides the Cavs with an ad sales revenue share, an equity package, a marketing budget funded by DAZN, a data share and an opt-out whenever the NBA launches its centralized hub for local broadcasts — expected by the 2027-28 season.

It’s a five-year contract with an annual rights fee believed to be in the $20M range, according to industry sources, and a chance to reach $30M-plus with equity, revenue sharing and other ancillary gains. The Cavs’ previous rights fee with Main Street Sports Group — before Main Street began defaulting last year — was about $35M.

Barlage and Cleveland native Walker Jacobs — who is DAZN Group’s Chief Revenue Officer and President of DAZN USA — would not comment on the rights fee, other than to say they anticipate growth year-over-year.

“We will collaborate in every way,” Jacobs said. “We’re primarily leading the commercial side of the business in terms of how we’re working with advertisers and sponsors and partners and developing programs that are going to come to life inside the broadcast. Our teams collaborate on that and make sure that we’re building really best-in-class activation. So that’s one aspect of it. But we’re really a tech organization at heart.”

DAZN’s Cavalier subscription options include a monthly $19.99 pass ($119.99 annual) that allows two streams in a single location and downloading capabilities; or a $29.99 monthly ($139.99 annual) “ultimate” pass with five streams in two locations, multi-view, downloading, alternate angles and feeds, plus 15% off Cavs.com/shop. All full-season and half-season Cavs United and Foundation members will be gifted complimentary access to Cavs games on DAZN. All subscriptions include a weekly show and extended game highlights.

Eventually, the team will also choose a local channel to simulcast 15 Cavs games OTA (the same 15 games DAZN will put in front of its own paywall), which is DAZN’s way of ingratiating itself to the Cavalier fanbase. DAZN will also house select RESN content, such as the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, the G League Charge and high school football games — again to localize its platform.

“Each team [including the T’Wolves and Pacers] has a slightly different set of priorities that they’re trying to achieve, and so we’re trying to be both pragmatic but flexible,” Jacobs said. “It’s not a defect that there is this sort of nuance in each of the deals. Some of them might have a couple more games that are free in front of the paywall. Some of them might have different production [DAZN, for instance, is paying the Pacers’ production costs, but not the Cavs’]. Some of them might have different sort of talent arrangements. It’s because we’re sitting down and we’re listening, and we’re really trying to understand the unique situation.”

DAZN’s final two exclusive deals are expected to be with the Spurs and Grizzlies in the coming days or weeks. Add in digital-only contracts with the Knicks, Nets and Wizards — and upcoming digital deals with the Magic and Hornets — and the platform will host a third of the NBA.

Range Sports advised DAZN on the Cavs negotiations, while the team handled the deal in-house.