Not long ago, it seemed inevitable that the NFL would renegotiate most of its current broadcast deals before the start of the 2026 season, with the idea that the existing partners would pay more for NFL games — starting with the 2026 season.
With the 2026 season less than three months away, it’s been crickets.
John Ourand of Puck reported earlier this week that the league and its broadcast partners “are no closer to working out a media rights extension than they were last week, or the week before, or the week before that.”
The process began with the NFL and CBS. When Skydance bought Paramount, it triggered a change-of-control provision in the NFL-CBS deal. That opened the door for the NFL to return to the table.
Some reports indicated that CBS would eventually boost its annual fee from $2.1 billion per year to $3 billion annually, effective immediately.
Per Ourand, “nothing is imminent” between the NFL and CBS, months after the talks began.
Meanwhile, Fox has launched its political pressure campaign against the NFL’s broadcast antitrust exemption. Fox’s goal may have been to prevent a streamer from becoming the leverage applied to get Fox to pay more now in order to extend its package beyond 2029, and to avoid a situation in which the league eventually sells the Fox package to a for-pay provider.
It’s unclear where it all stands. The NFL, dismayed by the significant increase in rights fees the NBA generated on its latest deals, wants more. Sooner rather than later.
For now, there’s a chance the 2026 season will begin without one or more broadcast partners paying more than what they were already due to pay to broadcast NFL games.
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