The National Football League is open to starting the process to renegotiate its media rights deals as early as 2026.
“I think our partners would want to sit down and talk to us at any time, and we continue to dialogue with them. I like that opportunity,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC. “Obviously it’s not going to happen this year. But it could happen as early as next year. That could happen.”
Under the current 11-year, $110 billion media rights agreement, the league has the option to opt out of its deals starting after the 2029-30 season for all of its media partners except for Disney/ESPN, which has one additional year of rights.
In addition to Disney/ESPN, its current media rights partners include Comcast/NBCUniversal, Paramount/CBS Amazon and Fox. It also has separate deals with YouTube for the NFL Sunday Ticket and Netflix for Christmas Day games.
“The reason why we felt so strongly about the option is the landscape is changing. It could be a long-term deal with the benefit of having that stability and security of it,” Goodell added. “But I think the reality of it is it changes so quickly that you want to have the ability to move. I think those options are going to give us a lot of flexibility to potentially go earlier.”
Representatives for the NFL, Disney/ESPN, Fox, Paramount and Amazon declined to comment, while NBCUniversal did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Goodell’s comments about the NFL’s opt-out clause come as Disney recently entered into an agreement to acquire the NFL Network in exchange for the league having a 10% stake in ESPN.
That deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, would see ESPN’s platforms license an additional three NFL games per season to air on NFL Network. It would also adjust its game schedule to have four games, including some in overlapping windows, shift to the NFL Network, which will continue to present seven games per season.
It also comes as the value of U.S. sports rights across the board has seen massive growth over the last decade, with more games shifting to streaming as viewers cut the cord from traditional pay TV. S&P Global estimates payments for U.S. TV and streaming media rights will reach a total of $29.25 billion in 2025 — a 105% increase from $14.64 billion a decade ago — and projects the figure will grow to over $37 billion by 2030.
Despite the major increases, Crakes Media founder and former Fox Sports executive Patrick Crakes previously told TheWrap that not all sports rights are created equal and that some leagues may see a reversal in their rights growth in the coming years as streamers spend more cautiously in favor of growing profitability.
“The signs are everywhere that the sports rights marketplace has gotten more complicated and that, except for the very tippy tip of the spear, pretty much everybody’s increases are threatened,” Crakes warned. “Much like we’ve seen with entertainment rights and content costs, sports rights costs growth has to taper. In some cases, it will dissipate, but that doesn’t mean that people won’t see increases because of the unique nature of live sports.”
