The market for live sports rights finds itself in an unfamiliar place as the media landscape continues to shift from old school cable and satellite platforms to digital-focused streaming platforms.
A-list properties like the NFL and NBA are still able to command top dollar from legacy media companies and streamers alike. But mid-level and smaller sports properties are fighting tooth and nail to maintain (or secure slight increases) to their current media rights fees. Even Major League Baseball is struggling after ESPN recently opted out of its $550 million per year deal.
As media rights increases become harder to come by, leagues have gotten creative in shaping their rights deals. NASCAR, for instance, recently began a new set of deals that sees races air on five separate networks or streamers (up from two in the previous deals) just to secure a 40% increase in rights revenues.
Networks are clearly becoming more selective in what live sports properties they buy, and for what price. Just on Wednesday, reports surfaced that a handful of media companies are “lukewarm” on Formula One rights that are currently on the market, citing a price tag that is too high for the modest audiences the circuit attracts.
Media analysts suggest this newfound austerity among the networks will result in a lower media rights spend in 2025 compared to 2024.
According to the media research firm MoffetNathanson, as reported by Variety, legacy media companies are expected to record a “slight dip” in media rights spending this year “as they readjust their budgets.” Some of this dip is thanks to circumstances like NBC spending less money in a non-Olympic year than they would in an Olympic year. And 2025 is the final year of the NBA’s old set of media rights deals, so overall rights fees will definitely shoot up in 2026 when the new deals kick in.
Nevertheless, any “dip” is notable in a market that hasn’t seen very many year-over-year decreases since the advent of cable.
The story is a bit different for the new kids on the block, A.K.A tech companies like Amazon, YouTube, and Netflix, which are increasingly becoming involved in live sports programming. While some are getting involved quicker than others, there’s no doubt that interest from these players is trending up. Amazon, for instance, is devoting more than one-fifth of its content budget to live sports in 2025. Netflix, on the other hand, is outlaying just 2%.
These numbers pale in comparison to what the legacy media companies are dolling out for live sports in 2025. Fox leads the way with 60% of its content budget being dedicated to live sports. Disney, with its high volume of live sports rights for ESPN, will spend 45% of its content budget on live rights.
All this to say, the market for live sports rights is still robust. Sporting events are some of the only programming on television that can command large audiences on a regular basis. The scarcity of broad-based programming has driven prices of sports rights up, even as consumers continue to cut the cord.
But as fewer events become true needle-movers, even within live sports, networks are being judicious in how they spend their limited budgets. That means the rich, like the NFL, will likely become richer, as smaller leagues fight for scraps.
