Fitch, one of the “Big Three” American credit ratings agencies, has issued its outlook for the sports industry.
Overall, the ratings agency sees reason to be bullish about the financial performance of professional sports in 2025. According to a report by Brendan Coffey of Sportico, Fitch believes that a combination of global expansion, growth in the interest of women’s sports, and lower U.S. interest rates will bode well for the sports industry next year.
Per the report, Fitch indicates that 5% of the global sports businesses it rates have a “positive outlook,” 91% are rated as “stable,” and just 4% have a “negative outlook.”
“The sports industry is further buoyed by the major leagues’ continued global expansion and increased popularity of women’s sports,” Fitch director of infrastructure and finance Ben Munguia wrote in the report. “Rising attendance for women’s sports and higher levels of fan engagement over the last year could unlock new revenue opportunities.”
Fitch did hedge some when it came to one aspect of the professional sports business: media rights. While the firm believes the NBA’s recent 11-year, $76 billion set of deals with Disney, Comcast, and Amazon is an overall boon for the media rights market, it warns that fragmentation could cause fans to become disinterested.
“The fragmentation and exclusivity of media rights across multiple platforms and partners may lead to fan disinterest if the desired content becomes unavailable to the original broadcast platforms,” Fitch writes. Specifically, the firm cautions leagues that rely more on local media revenue, like MLB and the NHL, may face larger hurdles than leagues like the NFL and NBA, who generate most of their media rights fees from national deals.
The market for live sports rights shows no signs of slowing down, however. Even with some MLB teams taking haircuts following the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy saga, on a league-wide basis, almost all professional sports rights are seeing fee increases. That trend will likely continue with the UFC’s new deals next year. Almost everything else of note is locked up for at least a few more years.
Given traditional media’s reliance on live sports for their very existence, it’s no surprise that the professional sports industry finds itself in a strong place financially. And with large tech companies like Amazon and Apple entering the fray, professional sports seem to be in an even more enviable position.
Long-term, the challenge will be to attract new and younger fans. But so long as sports remains one of the only places to reach a wide swath of the American population, it’s difficult to imagine a future where professional leagues are struggling.
[Sportico]
