Earlier this week, CBS parent company Paramount Global finally reached terms on a long-expected $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
The deal possesses the potential to have a major impact on the NFL. The league now has the ability to renegotiate its own deal with its longtime media partner through a change-of-control provision.
Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk on the Street earlier this week, Goodell remained evasive about the league’s plans regarding the deal.
“We’ll obviously be paying close attention to the process. We know Skydance. We’re partners with Skydance. They’ve done a terrific job with our relationship,” Goodell said. “So we’ll look at the structure of the deal. We’ll see how it impacts us. We’ll see how it impacts our business and we’ll make the best decision for the NFL at that point.”
.@nflcommish Roger Goodell doesn’t play down the impact of Skydance’s $8 billion takeover of $PARA on CBS contract negotiations. He tells @ @JBoorstin that the league is paying “close attention” to the process. pic.twitter.com/fLcxrccSOl
— Squawk on the Street (@SquawkStreet) July 11, 2024
But while Goodell is seemingly leaving all options available, one sports media insider doesn’t expect the league to renegotiate its deal.
At least not in a way that would affect CBS’ rights fee. In his latest newsletter (which is behind a paywall), Puck’s John Ourand revealed that while the NFL might use the Skydance merger to leverage additional perks from Paramount, CBS’ $2.1 billion rights fee will likely remain untouched.
“None of my sources believe that the NFL would open up CBS’s deal and demand a larger rights fee, but they do believe the league would twist arms in more subtle ways—enhancing the value of its existing deal with Skydance, say, or noodling with the CBS telecasts, or perhaps having the network run more promos for the league and its teams,” Ourand wrote. “Probably all of the above, and more.”
That’s likely welcome news to CBS, with Ourand noting that the NFL has an incredible amount of leverage. Not only is its partnership with the league one of CBS’ most important assets, but the NFL’s current rights deal — which went into effect just last year — is already undervalued in the wake of the NBA’s $76 billion agreement with ESPN, NBC and Amazon (which has yet to be finalized).
The NFL, however, isn’t exactly hurting for money (not that that’s ever stopped them before). And, as Goodell alluded to, it has a preexisting relationship with Skydance Media via NFL Films. At this point, it likely makes the most sense for the NFL to continue to keep its media rights package intact and potentially (almost assuredly) opt out of the entirety of the deal as early as 2029 — although it certainly won’t hurt if the league can use CBS’ current situation to leverage some new perks.
[Puck]
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.