The National Football League has finalized its new 11-year media rights deal with a pact that will run until 2033 and could be worth more than $ 100 billion.
The league announced Thursday that it will renew television rights with all of its existing broadcast partners and will add Amazon Prime Video as the exclusive partner for its Football Night Thursday package. It is the first time that a streaming service includes a full package of games exclusively. Amazon is paying about $ 1 billion a year, according to people who know the subject. All packages are for 11 years, the league said.
ViacomCBS, Fox and Comcast (owner of NBCUniversal) pay more than $ 2 billion a year for their packages, while Disney (owner of ESPN and ABC) will pay about $ 2.7 billion a year, according to people who know the subject. Using those figures, the new NFL deal is expected to top $ 100 billion, the richest deal in the U.S. sports league’s media.
The NFL has not responded to any requests for comment to confirm the full amount of the deals. ViacomCBS pays $ 2.1 billion for its package and NBCUniversal pays about $ 2 billion, the lowest of any of the partners, but the highest increase over its previous deal, according to people. NBCUniversal paid $ 1.1 billion for its previous package, including the playoff games.
Fox is also expected to pay more than $ 2 billion in its new contact, but will save $ 660 million by giving up the Football Night Thursday package. Morgan Stanley estimates the contact will mean an average annual loss of $ 400 million in 2023 when the Fox deal expires.
Disney pays more and receives more NFL content, including the exclusive broadcast rights to an international game each year, starting in 2022, one of the people said. In this pact, the ESPN network maintains 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 will now bring 23 games instead of 17 in its previous deal. ABC will broadcast three Football Monday matches, which will not be double-headed with ESPN because the game schedule will overlap, one of the people said. ABC will also lead two games on Saturday in the final week of the NFL season, which could turn into a new Week 18 if the NFL moves forward with the addition of a week. Disney will also receive a new divisional playoff round, the person said.
“These new media offerings will provide our fans with even greater access to the games they love,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We are proud to grow our partnerships with the most innovative media companies on the market. Along with our recently concluded labor agreement with the NFLPA, these distribution agreements bring an unprecedented era of stability to the league and allow us to continue to grow. and improve our game “.
“The NFL games are the most watched live schedule in the United States, and this is unprecedented Thursday Night Football The package provides tens of millions of new and existing Prime members with exclusive access to watch live football on Prime Video, “Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, said in a statement.
The league’s National Football Conference (NFC) games will remain on Fox and CBS Sports will continue to host the American Football Conference (AFC) games and broadcast these contests on the Paramount + service. NBCUniversal will maintain the Sunday Night Football package and use its Peacock service to play games.
The rotation of the NFL Super Bowl 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 in February drew 96.4 million viewers as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. The game was the lowest Super Bowl seen since 2007, when the Indianapolis Colts played the Chicago Bears. This game attracted 93.1 million viewers, according to data from the Octagon media division provided to CNBC.