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- NFL’s US$110bn deals expire in 2032
- League has opt-out in 2029 but is seeking earlier changes
- CBS pays US$2.1bn a year in current arrangement
The National Football League (NFL) is reportedly seeking an additional US$1 billion a year from Paramount for the rights to air live games on CBS on Sunday afternoons.
The league’s 11-year US$110 billion deals with Amazon, CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC expire in 2032 but the league has an opt-out clause that comes into effect in 2029.
However, the NFL is keen to renegotiate these contracts even earlier, and in time for the start of the 2026 season, believing its games have much greater value in the current media market, especially after the National Basketball Association (NBA) secured US$76 billion for its rights last year.
Negotiations are happening on a one-by-one-basis, starting with Paramount. This is partly because it can exert a ‘change of control’ clause with the media giant following David Ellison’s US$8 billion takeover last year and partly because it has since struck a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for US$110 million.
It has also purchased the domestic rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for US$7.6 billion. These transactions simultaneously increase the value of the NFL to the company and also demonstrate it is willing to pay for sports content.
Up until this point it is unclear how much the NFL would demand from each of its partners, who would effectively be “buying out” the opt-out clause in exchange for securing the most valuable content in the country until 2033 or 2034.
Now, CNBC reports that the league is seeking a 50 per cent uplift on its annual fees. CBS Sports currently pays US$2.1 billion a year for the rights to air two matches each Sunday afternoon from the AFC, play-off games and a spot on the Super Bowl rotation, however it could face a bill of at least US$3 billion from the new season.
The league isn’t opening up the package to other broadcasters – and wouldn’t be able to initiate any change until 2030 in any case – and is understood to be keen to renew with CBS. During the 2025 regular season, CBS increased its average game audience by 11 per cent to a record 21.25 million viewers, with its 4:30pm window the most-watched individual timeslot on any network.
Once a deal has been concluded, it is expected the NFL will start talks with Fox, which has a similar package to CBS for the NFC and could be subject to a similar 50 per cent increase.
However, CNBC adds that NBC and ESPN might resist a similar uplift for Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football, arguing that the rising prominence of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football has diminished the relative value of their packages.
A 50 per cent increase on ESPN’s US$2.7 billion fees would be more than US$4 billion – something that is said to be inconceivable for parent Disney. Indeed, the NFL now has an equity stake in ESPN as per the sale of the NFL Network and other media assets last year, so would not be inclined to unnecessarily diminish the value of its new asset.
SportsPro says…
Even in a sports media landscape as diverse as the US, the NFL is king and its crown has only been strengthened by the shift from linear to digital platforms. The networks need the NFL to safeguard their businesses and the streamers want the league to help it secure subscribers and expand their own advertising businesses.
Although the deals have only been in effect for five years, that’s a long time in media, and the NFL wants to take advantage of boardroom machinations, changing consumption habits, and market developments.
While the NFL’s partners could sit and wait until 2029 and pay the same amount as they do now, it’s not in their best interests to antagonise the league – especially if it increases the prospect of them losing the ability to show the NFL in the future.
But that’s not to say the networks aren’t open to the idea of extending their contracts if they can achieve certainty for their operations and their shareholders. They also might have more leverage than they once thought, with US lawmakers increasingly concerned about the volume of live sporting events leaving over-the-air (OTA) television and the number of subscriptions required to watch them.
There’s also the nuclear option of refusing to negotiate. While this scenario would lead to considerable financial hardship and a potential existential crisis for some networks, and, if they survive, make it incredibly unlikely they would ever get the NFL back in the foreseeable future, it would also mean the NFL would forego billions of revenue until it can take the package back to market.
As platforms multiply, audiences fragment and media rights deals plateau, it’s time to understand what’s really going on in sports media. Join us at SportsPro London this April to learn more.