Fox has acquired two additional regular season NFL games. The news was announced Monday morning during the company’s third quarter earnings call for 2026.
The first game will likely be an international game that will take place in Munich during week 10, and the second will be a Saturday game in week 15, CEO Lachlan Murdoch revealed during the call. The news comes as the league has been attempting to renegotiate its ongoing contracts.
“I think the important note to take here is that here is no tension with the NFL. We have been partners for 30 years. We’re looking forward to being partners for the next 30 years,” Murdoch said.
The head of Fox also noted that the network has had “no substantive discussions with the NFL” about potentially renegotiating or extending its contract. Fox has four years left on its deal with the league.
Though there have been many reports and speculation that the NFL will be going to each of its media partners to renegotiate its deals, so far the only company that the football powerhouse has had these conversations with is Paramount. Because David Ellison’s Skydance purchased Paramount last summer, the NFL has been using a change in ownership clause to reopen discussions. It’s believed that, after discussions with Paramount conclude, the league will move to each of its media partners and attempt to renegotiate. Fox is believed to be next.
That’s not the only NFL-related news the company announced during its third quarter earnings. Total revenue was down 8.7% year-over-year, hitting $3.99 billion. This was due to the fact that Fox had the Super Bowl last year, which went to NBCUniversal this year. Advertising revenue was also down 23% because of the absence of the Super Bowl. However, the impact of an additional NFL Wild Card game as well as the continued digital growth of Tubi helped offset this decline.
Fox’s cable network division saw a 6% increase, hitting $1.74 billion in quarterly segment revenue. Distribution revenue increased by 5% as price increases offset subscriber declines, and advertising revenue for the division was up 5% due to higher news pricing partially offset by lower ratings as well as the broadcast of the World Baseball Classic.
