Most major sports media rights deals are locked up for the immediate future, making it difficult to determine how the ongoing shake-up across media companies will affect valuations.
The NFL will likely wait to see how turmoil in the media industry — from consolidation to the dwindling of the pay TV bundle — alters company balance sheets before determining if it'll opt out of its current deal.While Ultimate Fighting Championship and Formula 1 have deals expiring in 2025, the vast majority of major college and professional sports have recently signed long-term media rights deals with U.S. TV networks and streamers.
"There probably will be companies that don't exist today that will merge to create new competitive bidders," said former CBS Sports President Neal Pilson, who founded sports media consulting firm Pilson Communications."Other deals, like the NBA, are a data point, but the NFL is its own marketplace. The programming is the honey. It's all driven by the popularity of the NFL.
Live sports has long been the glue holding the bundle together, and a majority of viewership still comes from traditional TV versus streaming.Traditionally, the reach of broadcast networks, particularly in rural areas that still don't have consistent high-speed internet, has caused the NFL to value Fox, Disney, NBCUniversal and CBS — all of which own broadcast networks. Most NFL games air on national broadcasters.