During a virtual conference Tuesday, Fox Corp. COO John Nallen commented that the company is in “very, very early discussions” with the NFL about renewing a rights deal.
Fox paid a reported $1.1 billion to the NFL in 2011 for a renewal of its rights deal, according to Deadline, with NBC, CBS, and ESPN also extending their deals for a total of $7 billion. The deals made in 2011 will expire after the 2022 season.
In February, we reported that NFL owners had approved the terms of a bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. When that agreement was locked down in March, it allowed the league to begin negotiating deals with networks to air games after the current deals are up.
Deadline says Wall Street Analysts predict that traditional media is willing to invest heavily in rights deals. Fox saw a cost increase of 54% from is previous deal to the current deal. While the costs will go up again, Fox Corp’s Nallen says that shouldn’t be the focus. Give me the NFL, the ability to have that kind of programming,” Nallen said. “That’s where the focus should be.”
Adding another layer to negotiations will be streaming services. The NFL has made deals with Amazon, Twitter, and Yahoo in the past and will likely continue to grow its online presence.
Amazon, Apple, Google, and others will reportedly be looking to get streaming rights to NFL games. However, sources have said that the NFL likely won’t sell exclusive rights to streaming services.
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