The Super Bowl is over and the NFL is shifting gears — the league wants to finalize upcoming media rights by next month.
The 2021 salary cap figure, which was $198 million per team last year, is scheduled to come out in March. The NFL hopes to have its broadcasting deals set beforehand.
- Fox and CBS will keep Sunday afternoon games and NBC will hold its Sunday Night Football package.
- ESPN+ is being considered to take over DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket package.
- Disney has expressed interest in being part of the Super Bowl rotation.
Fox is the current owner of broadcast rights for the Thursday night package, but the deal ends in 2023. Finding Thursday Night Football a new home has contributed to the delay in finalizing media rights, per CNBC. It’s been speculated that Amazon, which already has Thursday night streaming rights, will take over.
Rumor has it that the league’s new agreements for media rights could reach $100 billion for 10 years, $98 billion for seven years or $96 billion for eight years.
Last year, the NFL struck a 10-year labor agreement with the NFL Players Association to include more postseason games along with a 17-game regular season schedule. With the addition of more content, the NFL is looking to cash in.
