Total value of NFL national TV broadcast deals 2014-2022

Sports network ESPN agreed an eight-year deal with the NFL worth 15.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2011 – the contract extended the network’s deal to broadcast Monday Night Football from 2014 through to 2021. Fox added to its NFL portfolio by acquiring the broadcasting rights to the Thursday Night Football package in 2018 – the company paid around three billion U.S. dollars for a five-year deal running through to 2022.

Ratings rally as armchair fans return

The number of people watching the NFL on television increased during the 2018 season – figures that will please the league as they prepare to negotiate key contracts that are set to expire in 2021 and 2022. The average number of viewers of ESPN’s Monday Night Football in the United States jumped to 11.6 million in 2018, snapping a run that saw audience figures decline for a few years. Fox also reported a rebound in its ratings, with the average number of viewers of Thursday Night Football increasing to around 15 million in 2018.

Premier League attracts premier deals

Other sports around the world are also benefitting from profitable broadcasting deals, particularly soccer. The English Premier League sold its domestic broadcasting rights for the three seasons between 2016-2019 for around five billion British pounds; the league sold the overseas broadcasting rights for the same cycle for around three billion British pounds. The deals agreed by the English Premier League eclipse all other major soccer leagues around Europe: in France, for example, Ligue 1 received an estimated 852 million euros from selling its domestic and international broadcast rights for 2018-2019 season.