The National Football League has finalized its new 11-year media rights deal with a pact that runs until 2033 and could be worth more than $ 100 billion.
The league announced on Thursday that it is extending TV rights with all of its existing broadcast partners and adding Amazon Prime Video as an exclusive partner for its Thursday Night Football package. It is the first time that a streaming service exclusively offers a full package of games. According to people familiar with the case, Amazon pays about $ 1 billion a year. All packages are valid for 11 years, the league said.
ViacomCBS, Fox, and Comcast (which owns NBCUniversal) all pay more than $ 2 billion a year for their packages, while Disney (which owns ESPN and ABC) will pay about $ 2.7 billion annually, according to people who know. are with the issue. Using these numbers, the NFL’s new deal expects to exceed $ 100 billion – the richest media deal in the U.S. sports league.
The NFL did not respond to a request for comment to confirm the total amount of the deals. ViacomCBS is paying $ 2.1 billion for its package, and NBCUniversal is paying about $ 2 billion, the lowest of all partners but the highest increase from its previous deal, the people said. NBCUniversal paid $ 1.1 billion for its previous package, including playoff games.
Fox is also expected to pay more than $ 2 billion in its new contact, but will save $ 660 million as it renounces the Thursday Night Football package. Morgan Stanley estimates that the deal will average $ 400 million in annual losses by 2023 when Fox’s agreement expires.
Disney is paying more and receiving more NFL content, including rights to exclusively air an international game every year from 2022, one of the people said. In this pact, the ESPN network retains the Monday Night Football package and also has rights to broadcast two Super Bowls on its ABC network. Disney can stream all NFL games that air on ABC and ESPN on ESPN +, the league said.
Disney now has 23 games instead of 17 in the previous deal. ABC will air three Monday Night Football games, which won’t be double-headers with ESPN as the timing of the games will overlap, one said. ABC will also play two Saturday games in the final week of the NFL season, which could turn into a new week 18 as the NFL continues to add another week. Disney is also getting a new division-round playoff game, the person said.
“These new media deals will give our fans even more access to the games they love,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We are proud to expand our partnerships with the most innovative media companies on the market. Together with our recently completed employment agreement with the NFLPA, these distribution agreements will bring an unprecedented era of stability to the league and will enable us to to keep growing and improve our game. “
The league’s National Football Conference (NFC) games will remain with Fox, and CBS Sports will continue to host American Football Conference (AFC) games and stream those games on its Paramount + service. NBCUniversal will keep the Sunday Night Football package and use the Peacock service to stream games.
The NFL’s Super Bowl rotation is as follows:
- CBS: 2023, 2027, 2031
- FOX: 2024, 2028, 2032
- NBC: 2025, 2029, 2033
- ESPN / ABC: 2026, 2030
The NFL’s Covid-19 Super Bowl drew 96.4 million viewers in February who watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. The game was the lowest-watched Super Bowl since 2007, when the Indianapolis Colts played against Chicago Bears. That game drew 93.1 million viewers, according to data from Octagon’s media division provided to CNBC.