NFL commissioner Roger Goodell might be taking advice from one of the great rock and roll bands of the ’90s.
The great Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame once said, “I’ve got 87 million pounds in the bank, I’ve got a Rolls Royce, I’ve got 3 stalkers, I’m about to go on the board at Manchester City, I’m part of the greatest band in the world. Am I happy with that? No, I’m not! I want MORE!!”
And that’s seemingly how the NFL, with its over $10 billion per year in media rights, feels too.
Appearing at his annual Super Bowl week press conference, Goodell was asked a question from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand about whether he thinks the league’s current television contracts are undervalued. He responded how any great rock star would.
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand asks Roger Goodell if he thinks the current NFL TV contracts are undervalued.
Goodell: “I always think we’re undervalued, how’s that?” pic.twitter.com/pj2b0fFcgu
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 3, 2025
“I always think we’re undervalued, how’s that?” Goodell quipped before going into a more corporate answer. “Listen, I think the NFL, you see it by the ratings, they’re extraordinary. We had 58 million people watching the AFC Championship game a week ago. And you see the quality of the content and what it can do.”
The commissioner went on to talk about how the NFL has the most “fan friendly” broadcast policies of any major sports league, with nearly 88% of games still airing on free, over-the-air broadcast television. But that doesn’t mean the league might look to expand its partnerships with Netflix, Google, and Amazon — all of which have a piece of the league and all of whom could outbid any of the league’s “traditional” broadcast partners if they wanted to.
“Amazon I think had another 40% increase in audience,” Goodell continued. “Their ratings are now coming close to broadcast audiences, and about to cross over. And I think they will very shortly. So when you see what we’re doing with the Netflixes and the Amazons and the Peacocks of the world, I think that’s going to be a very important advancement for us in the context of media strategy.”
Marchand then asked the commissioner about the league’s option to opt-out of its current television contracts in 2029, a path the league could take to broaden its current partnerships with the aforementioned tech companies.
“I would say this…I think those opt-outs are incredibly valuable for the NFL,” Goodell said. “They give us a significant opportunity to look at what the best options for the NFL are as we get to that stage, in large part because the media landscape is changing so quickly. Are there different avenues that we should approach and have different opportunities to pursue? We have that built into our media deals, and I think that will serve us very well.”
So while Roger Goodell wouldn’t commit to anything regarding the league’s future broadcast deals, he certainly made it apparent that the NFL is in prime position to capitalize on its current circumstances.
Who knows if those moves end up being as “fan friendly” as the current situation would have it. There’s a chance NFL broadcast rights could become even more fragmented, depending on how the league divvies up its inventory.
But is the NFL happy with its current $10 billion per year? No they’re not! They want MORE!!