Report: FOX willing to pay up to $2 billion to keep Sunday NFL package
The NFL is big business and even in a pandemic that business is going to boom … when it comes to television rights.
According to a report from Bloomberg, FOX Sports is willing to spend up to $2 billion — almost doubling its current cost — to keep its Sunday NFL (NFC) package. The NFC package is a gem because as the report says the conference gives FOX, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, the top three markets.
The current contracts expire at the end of next year.
Per Bloomberg:
Now Fox has to fend off other broadcasters, which also want to air high-profile matchups. Negotiations with the league are heating up because current broadcast rights begin expiring at the end of next year, starting with Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and its deal for “Monday Night Football.” Talks between the league and the networks are already underway, but at an early stage, Fox Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch told investors this month.
“The NFL has asked, I think, all the broadcasters to think about every package, and to think how would we monetize packages that we currently have or other packages differently,” Murdoch said. “So, we’re looking at all sorts of options.”
The Bloomberg report indicates it may not be as simple as keeping the NFC package because …
Other networks are interested in the Fox games and have been pressing the league to reconfigure the rights to allow them to air some of them, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. A spokesman for Fox declined to comment.
