Last summer, the NBA negotiated new broadcast agreements with several media partners, resulting in an aggregate total of $76 billion across 11 years. These new media rights agreements represent a 160% increase per season compared to the NBA’s previous agreement.
The NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell clearly took notice.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Goodell said that the NFL could begin renegotiating its media rights deals in 2026, four years before the league can exercise any opt-out clause.
NFL Looking To Opt Out of Current Media Deals
In 2021, the NFL signed an 11-year, $111 billion media rights deal with all its media partners except Disney. Those media rights deals include an opt-out clause that would allow the NFL to get out of the deals with all of its media partners except Disney after the 2029 NFL season. Disney has one additional year of rights to Monday Night Football.
The NFL will need to obtain approval from each of its five media partners to begin any discussions on a new deal. But given the opportunity to negotiate with the NFL without any outside competitors (like Apple or Google, for example) during this period, there’s little reason to believe any of the five current partners — Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, FOX, or Amazon — would push back on talking about what their next deals with the NFL would look like beginning with the 2030 season.
“I think our partners would want to sit down and talk to us at any time, and we continue to dialogue with them,” Goodell told CNBC. “Obviously, it’s not going to happen this year. But it could happen as early as next year.”
The NFL’s next media rights deal will likely generate billions of dollars in additional revenue from its broadcast partners, especially if new deals signed by the NBA and NHL are any indication. Goodell and the NFL wisely recognized this potential when they signed the current media rights deals that included the option to opt out.
“The reason why we felt so strongly about the option is the landscape is changing,” Goodell said. “It could be a long-term deal with the benefit of having that stability and security of it. 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.”
Sports assets remain the crux of broadcast television in the United States. In 2024, 72 of the top 100 programs on television were NFL games, according to Nielson’s ratings data.
Potential Challenges and Pitfalls Ahead?
The NFL’s potential deal with ESPN, in which the NFL would acquire a 10% stake in the network, could complicate matters. This pending deal requires regulatory approval from both the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The DOJ will review to ensure the transaction does not violate antitrust laws, while the FTC will ensure the agreement does not create an unfair playing field in terms of influence in the sports media market.
Attempting to renegotiate its media rights deals while this transaction is still pending may create unnecessary scrutiny that the NFL will want to avoid.
Additionally, the NFL has long been interested in adding an 18th game to the NFL regular season. Of course, the NFLPA will have its own say about adding additional games. That matter will be part of collective bargaining and could be a slow process. It’s unclear if media partners will want to negotiate now before knowing whether an additional week will be added to the regular season schedule.
Regardless, Commissioner Goodell has gone on the record to make clear where the league stands. With plans to opt out of its current media rights deals, look for all parties involved to come to the negotiating table in 2026 to secure long-term broadcasting rights of the United States’ most sought-after broadcast asset.
