The NFL season ended weeks ago, but some of the media’s biggest players have been scrambling to keep professional football in the spotlight.
Under a series of critically important rights deals unveiled Thursday between the National Football League and some of the nation’s biggest media companies, “” will no longer be shown on broadcast TV and Walt Disney’s ABC will air the Super Bowl for the first time in more than 15 years. The moves come after the NFL cemented new pacts that will keep the bulk of its games under the purview of traditional media outlets through 2033, even as it expanded its reach into the new ways its fans are experiencing the game, including streaming video and gaming.
Fox, which had previously aired “Thursday,” will keep its Sunday-afternoon games, as will CBS. NBC will stick with “’ and Disney’s ESPN will extend its run on “,” according to people familiar with the agreements. Amazon, the e-commerce giant that has made notable forays into the world of streaming-video entertainment, will continue to have rights to the Thursday games, which in recent years have also aired on the NFL’s own NFL Network.
The deals call for a significant step-up in fees. Fox and NBC are likely to be paying around $2 billion each year to keep the Sunday NFC package and “Sunday Night Football,” respectively, according to people familiar with the matter. Fox previously had been paying around $1.1 billion for rights, while NBC had previously paid around $950 million, the lowest of the TV-network price tags.
In exchange for the exorbitant rights, the networks will get the chance to broadcast games in new venues. NBC will be able to simulcast “Sunday Night Football” on its streaming-video hub, Peacock, for example, and that service will over the life of the new contract get to air some games exclusively, according to one of these people. Fox will get to broadcast games on Christmas, and expand the games it can air on its Spanish-language service Fox Deportes. The company also gets an option to stream certain games on its Tubi service and align NFL games with its Fox Bet gaming business, according to one person familiar with the structure of some of the deals.
Even with swelling price tags, the networks can’t do without the sport. Live NFL broadcasts generate TV’s biggest consistent audiences and the medium’s highest ad prices. In 2019, the average cost of a 30-second ad on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” was $608,625, according to Standard Media Index, a tracker of ad spending. The equivalent on Fox’s “Thursday Night Football” came to $496,232, with the average 30-second spot costing nearly $461,345 for Fox’s Sunday afternoon games; nearly $353,911 for CBS’ Sunday football games; and nearly $277,605 for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.
More to come…