Ahead of the 2021 season, the NFL has decided to extend its broadcasting deal with its several broadcast partners and the latest reports claim that the total worth of the deal is north of a whopping $100 billion.
The NFL has renewed its broadcast deals with CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox, NBC, and Amazon, all the way until the 2033 season and made it public via an official announcement on Thursday.
Meanwhile, The Athletic claims the sources have cited that the 10-year deal, which is set to start from 2023, has a combined worth of more than $100 billion. it also adds that the Super Bowl will now return to the ABC, in rotation with ESPN.
NFL set to land more than $100 billion over a span of 11 years
Having broadcasted their last Super Bowl all the way back in 2006 last time, ABC has clinched rights to two more championship finals as part of the new deal which starts from the 2023 season onwards. As per reports, ABC and ESPN will have Super Bowls in 2026 and 2030.
Alongside its Super Bowl rights, the Disney-owned ABC are also going to keep Monday Night Football along with ESPN. On the other hand, Thursday Night Football has gone to Amazon, NBC has retained its Sunday Night Football, while the AFC and NFC Sunday afternoon matches have gone to CBS and FOX respectively.
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“We believe that we are incredibly well positioned, probably better than ever before, to grow our game and engage our fans in innovative ways,” said Roger Goodall, the NFL Commissioner in a recent statement, “and these deals are the foundation to be able to do that.”
As part of the new 11 year deal, each broadcasting network will be paying a hefty increment in rights fees per year. From the previous $2 billion per annum, Disney’s fees will be jumping to $2.7 billion, while Fox, CBS and NBC are estimated to spend around $2 billion per year, which is double the amount of their current expenditure as rights fees.
“Over the last five years, we’ve started the migration to streaming, and with today’s deals, we make another large step in that direction,” said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, “our fans want this option, and our media partners and the league understand that streaming is truly the future.”
The 2021 NFL season is set to kick off from 9th September onwards, and with the new broadcast deals in place, the league will eye an expansion from 16 to 17 game regular season this year, for the first time since 1978.
