NFL TV rights could enter renegotiations next year, Roger Goodell says
Commissioner Roger Goodll may begin to re -negotiate media rights agreements in 2026, four years before the deactivation item of the current agreement, in a special interview with CNBC.
A new media rights agreement can potentially add billions of dollars to the league’s chests. The league needs an agreement from the current media partners – Disney– Comcast’s Nbcuniversal, Very big– Amazon And Fox – To start discussing any new agreement.
After the 2029-30 season in 2021, NFL signed a $ 111 billion media rights agreement for all media partners, except Disney, which has more annual rights.
If both parties mean that the league can increase the annual income and that media partners can expand the control of NFL rights in the coming years, it can be encouraged for new rights agreements.
Goodll, “I think our partners will always want to sit and talk to us, and we continue to dialogue with them. I love this opportunity.” He said. “Obviously it won’t happen this year. But it may be as early as next year. This may be.”
NFL programming is the most watched content on traditional television. Last year, 72 of Top 100 According to the data collected by Nielsen, the programs were NFL games. A year ago, 93 of Top 100 There were NFL games.
Goodll, “The reason we feel so strong about the option is the change of the landscape. This stability and security may be a long -term agreement with the benefit of having it. But I think reality changes as fast as you want to move. I think these options will give us a lot of flexibility to go earlier.” He said.
Other major professional leagues such as NBA and NHL made new agreements with media partners and increased their TV revenues significantly last year. Goodll confessed to watching the media agreements of other recent sports, and in return, NFL said that he left money on the table.
Amazon, Disney’s ESPN, FOX, NBCuniversal and Paramount’s representatives of CBS refrained from commenting.
It accelerates until 2026
Accelerating media negotiations can be difficult from a regulatory perspective in the beginning of 2026, because an agreement with NFL that will see the ESPN League Get 10% shares on the network. Re -negotiating a media rights agreement can offer a conflict of interest in which both sides want to avoid, while this purchase is still waiting.
If this agreement is passed, ESPN may be more open to play with NFL in a future media agreement, given the minority ownership of the league.
Another delay for accelerated re -negotiation may come with a potential permission of the 18th week of the normal season game. The league may ask for an additional week before locking the new media agreements, but such a change must be approved by the NFL players Association, which is now just now There is a call leader.
NFL will want to weigh any new agreement with flexibility to add new partners, for example Youtube And Netflix. Both companies carried games for NFL. Youtube released a 1st week match this year and Netflix made NFL output last year on Christmas Day, and this season will continue two more games.
Accelerating new media opportunities for professional football can also affect the MLB.
This league plans to re -negotiate media rights at the end of the 2028 season. If the NFL moves first and makes great increases from the media partners, they will feel more limited to spend media companies on other sports. Furthermore, considering the value in the nature of live sports where advertisements cannot be skipped, it may use a large increase in NFL as evidence of why its content should gain a greater increase in wages.
A new agreement for NFL may increase the salary limit of the league in future seasons and save more money to spend the teams on players, and potentially lead to the expansion of the squad.
NFL team values are largely dependent on the league’s TV agreements. According to CNBC’s official 2025 NFL tool values, franchise values have increased in recent years in recent years, the average NFL team is worth $ 7.65 billion.
A major increase in income will probably allow this momentum to continue.
Description: Comcast is the parent company of NBCuniversal, the owner of CNBC. Versant will be CNBC’s new parent company on the planned Versant Spinoff of Comcast.
