Recent weeks on the NFL media rights beat have marked a changing of the tides.
Last September, the NFL publicly acknowledged for the first time that it would seek to strike early renewals with its broadcast partners several years prior to the 2029-30 season, when it has the contractual option to exit most of its agreements. The goal for the league was simple: negotiate higher rights fees now and, in return, remove the exit option at the end of the decade, allowing its partners to guarantee themselves NFL inventory well into the 2030s.
At first, it looked as if new deals were inevitable. After all, NFL programming is borderline existential to legacy broadcast networks like CBS, Fox, and NBC, all of which still rely on lucrative retransmission fees from distributors and local affiliates to fund their businesses. But then, things began to change. The NFL started facing pressure from all corners of Washington. Congress, the FCC, the DOJ, and others all started scrutinizing the shift of live sports off of linear television and onto streaming services. Those roadblocks seemingly bought league partners enough time to where no new deals were finalized prior to the 2026-27 season, as the NFL reportedly wanted.
Now, any early deals would only grant the NFL three additional seasons at higher rights fees (assuming it would otherwise exercise its opt-out clause at the end of the decade). And it seems like the league's broadcast partners are starting to sense they have a bit of leverage to hold out without risk of losing the NFL following the 2029-30 season.
During a recent earnings call, Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch outright said his network won't negotiate early, instead saying Fox will negotiate with the NFL on a normal cadence around the 2029-30 timeline. Further reporting suggested that negotiations between CBS and the NFL were "on hold" amid Paramount's ongoing effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. And while CBS Sports president David Berson did not outright rule out early negotiations when speaking with Awful Announcing last week, the undertones of his answers suggested nothing was imminent between the two sides.
#broadcast #last
Last September, the NFL publicly acknowledged for the first time that it would seek to strike early renewals with its broadcast partners several years prior to the 2029-30 season, when it has the contractual option to exit most of its agreements. The goal for the league was simple: negotiate higher rights fees now and, in return, remove the exit option at the end of the decade, allowing its partners to guarantee themselves NFL inventory well into the 2030s.
At first, it looked as if new deals were inevitable. After all, NFL programming is borderline existential to legacy broadcast networks like CBS, Fox, and NBC, all of which still rely on lucrative retransmission fees from distributors and local affiliates to fund their businesses. But then, things began to change. The NFL started facing pressure from all corners of Washington. Congress, the FCC, the DOJ, and others all started scrutinizing the shift of live sports off of linear television and onto streaming services. Those roadblocks seemingly bought league partners enough time to where no new deals were finalized prior to the 2026-27 season, as the NFL reportedly wanted.
Now, any early deals would only grant the NFL three additional seasons at higher rights fees (assuming it would otherwise exercise its opt-out clause at the end of the decade). And it seems like the league's broadcast partners are starting to sense they have a bit of leverage to hold out without risk of losing the NFL following the 2029-30 season.
During a recent earnings call, Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch outright said his network won't negotiate early, instead saying Fox will negotiate with the NFL on a normal cadence around the 2029-30 timeline. Further reporting suggested that negotiations between CBS and the NFL were "on hold" amid Paramount's ongoing effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. And while CBS Sports president David Berson did not outright rule out early negotiations when speaking with Awful Announcing last week, the undertones of his answers suggested nothing was imminent between the two sides.
#broadcast #last
10 hours ago
