The NFL is in the catbird seat when it comes to renegotiating its rights deals with television networks and streamers. And given the outsized importance of the league when it comes to attracting viewers and sponsors, media companies are already preparing their war chests.<\/p>\n
Networks and streamers have increasingly found that they can\u2019t live without the NFL. The league has maximum leverage as the most popular sports and entertainment property in the country. And the fact that they currently have partnerships with ESPN, Fox, CBS, NBC, Amazon, Netflix, and Google means there are plenty of potential suitors and bidders when it comes to the league being able to name its price.<\/p>\n
But just what might that price be?<\/p>\n
Puck\u2018s Matthew Belloni took a deep dive<\/a> into how the rising cost of doing business with the NFL will affect American media giants when it comes to taking up a much larger percentage of their available funds. From the point of view of the media companies, it\u2019s a simple math problem. The NFL will take up more available dollars than ever before, leaving less to spend on entertainment properties and other sports leagues. That\u2019s why every league not named the NFL<\/a> caught between the NBA\u2019s massive media rights windfall<\/a> and the upcoming NFL payday is looking to get to the table as soon as possible before the money runs out.<\/p>\n Belloni cites MoffettNathanson research<\/a> that projects the NFL\u2019s annual media rights deals could reach a whopping $15.9 billion in annual revenue, which would be a 58% increase over their current deals.<\/p>\n Currently, the league makes just over $10 billion<\/a> in revenue from media rights partners. ESPN pays the highest annual fee at $2.7 billion, Fox is at $2.2 billion, CBS at $2.1 billion, NBC at $2 billion, and Amazon pays $1 billion for\u00a0Thursday Night Football. When you add in the carveouts that the NFL has made by selling additional games to Netflix and YouTube and deals like Sunday Ticket, the price keeps getting higher and higher.<\/p>\n But could that potentially be underselling what the NFL could earn? Keep in mind when the NBA inked its new deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon, it earned a whopping 164% increase. Given the NFL\u2019s huge popularity advantage, seeing only a 58% increase in comparison would be surprising.<\/p>\n The Ellison family takeover<\/a> of Paramount Skydance is accelerating the timeline<\/a> of these renegotiations thanks to a clause in the CBS deal with the NFL. And already, the political game is beginning with the FCC getting involved<\/a> in protecting the interests of conservative friends that own linear networks trying to stem the tide of a streaming takeover.<\/p>\n