With the NFL taking its media rights to market much sooner than many anticipated, it seems that other leagues are scrambling to renew their deals before the Shield drains the content budgets of every major broadcaster and streamer.
Last week, Puck sports correspondent John Ourand reported that PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp had held discussions with broadcasters about possible early extensions to the Tour’s current media rights agreements, which expire in 2030. The hope is that the PGA Tour can secure a deal before the NFL, which intends to renegotiate its deals well before its contractual opt-outs hit in 2029 and 2030, strikes new agreements.
It seems the PGA Tour isn’t the only league using this logic. According to another report by Ourand filed on Tuesday night, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has approached his league’s current rights partners, ESPN and TNT Sports, with the intention of striking an early renewal before the NHL’s deals expire in 2028.
It is widely anticipated that the NFL, which currently receives in the neighborhood of $10 billion per year across its broadcast agreements, will be able to demand significantly more money this time around. Ourand speculates that NBC’s Sunday Night Football package, which the network currently pays about $2 billion per year for, could balloon to as much as $4 billion per year.
Suffice it to say, if the NFL doubles its current media revenue, or even increases it by 50%, there are a lot fewer dollars floating around in the marketplace for other live sports rights.
A network like TNT could be the beneficiary of this new dynamic, Ourand suggests. TNT, many will recall, did not retain NBA rights after a fraught negotiation throughout 2024. In doing so, the network saved more than $2 billion per year, money that it can now spend on other live sports. Should the NFL take up a much larger percentage of the media rights budget for its broadcasters, those broadcasters will be priced out of rights for other sports. A network like TNT, which doesn’t pay the NFL or NBA, would then be in position to capitalize.
As for leagues like the NHL or PGA Tour, it’s unclear if their strategies will work. Per Ourand, “the networks don’t seem willing to commit to any kind of long-term deal until they know how much the NFL will ask for.”
That makes sense. The NFL is borderline existential for the networks that have it. The enormous audiences the league commands drive retransmission fees and advertising revenue that is unmatched compared to other programming. It’s wise not to make any deals until the NFL agreement is sorted out.
Perhaps that means opportunity for other networks that aren’t competing in the NFL’s bidding war. Leagues like the NHL and PGA Tour want long-term security. And if they can’t get that from broadcasters waiting on the NFL to outline its demands, they may start looking elsewhere.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.