For the past two seasons, NBC and Fox shared broadcasting rights for the USFL. Now that the league has merged with the XFL, however, they’re getting out of the spring football business once again.
The merger been the USFL and XFL was approved last week by federal antitrust regulators and they announced they would begin their 2024 season on March 30.
According to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, NBC told the merged leagues that they won’t be able to take part in broadcasting any of those games due to commitments it already has to golf events during the first few weeks of the season.
The 2023 USFL season started on April 15, so the new schedule had to account for three weeks worth of games that NBC didn’t have the available inventory to account for.
“We enjoyed our relationship with the USFL and Fox, but the new earlier schedule made it impossible for us to continue,” said NBC Sports EVP/Communications Greg Hughes in a statement. “We wish them success with the new league and their new partners.”
Last season’s USFL ratings were on the downswing for NBC from the previous one, so it’s hard to imagine they’re too bothered by the development.
Per Ourand, that means the new league will split its broadcasts amongst ESPN, ABC, Fox, and FS1. XFL games were previously broadcast specifically with ESPN’s family of networks.
As for what this merged league looks like, including how many teams will play and where they’ll be based, we have no idea. But now that the antitrust concerns are put to bed, there’s time to work out all the logistics.
[SBJ]
