NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recently finalized an extension through the 2030 season, which not-so-coincidentally coincides with the NFL’s opt-out option to rework its existing media rights deal at the conclusion of the 2029-30 season.
Goodell remained mum on the NFL’s timeline on the media rights front, but he did provide some insight into the league’s thinking in an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Alex Sherman.
“One of the things we’re doing as a league is talking to our partners, talking to future partners, potential partners […] and evaluating, should we repackage our current packages? Should we think differently about where we go with those things?” Goodell said.
Goodell highlighted an emphasis on the NFL’s global audience. This season, there will be a record-breaking nine regular-season international games, beginning literally right now. The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers just kicked off the first-ever NFL game in Melbourne, Australia, streaming exclusively on Netflix.
“The world is changing for our partners,” Goodell said. “It’s changing for us; it’s changing for fans. Our fans are moving to other platforms. I think one of the challenges for us is to look at the changes, evaluate what’s working, what’s not, what we think is going to work beyond those option dates and the partners that can bring the greatest opportunity to reach those fans on a global basis.
“We’ve never looked at it that way until recently.”
While Netflix has rights to five total games this season, and Amazon Prime Video will continue streaming Thursday Night Football, ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox, and NBC remain the power players in broadcasting NFL games.
Goodell’s primary function is to act on behalf of the owners and grow the game globally — an 18-game season is probably inevitable — but he anticipates at least one historical NFL to have a lasting presence.
“One hundred percent of our games are available on broadcast television,” Goodell told CNBC. “I see that continuing.”
Hank Schroeder, the NFL’s head media executive, gave a media rights outlook to Awful Announcing during a conference call last month.
“As we’ve said before, we’re always talking to our partners, right?” Schroeder said. “We’re always talking about what we can do better, both in what’s right in front of us and what’s longer term. So, I don’t think anything’s changed on our end.”
“We’re always going to look at opportunities to sort of make sure we have the right model, partnerships, in place for the future,” he continued. “We’re lucky and incredibly fortunate to have great partners today. And we have partnerships that are in place for a number of years with our existing partners, so we and they remain committed about delivering the best experience for our fans.
“We’ll continue and stay focused on that, and continue to engage with our partners about opportunities that we have ahead of us, where we can better and even better serve our fans. So nothing’s changed.”
In other words, the NFL’s future media rights puzzle is a problem for another day. Goodell is too busy relishing in his international victory lap right now.
About Megan Armstrong
Since first getting published as a student by the Kansas City Star in 2013, Megan Armstrong has gone wherever curiosity and stories have taken her, specializing in sports, media, music, and culture coverage. She also has an extensive background in interviewing and profiling public figures. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Bleacher Report, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.