As the National Football League begins shaping its next round of media rights agreements, early discussions with CBS Sports and its corporate parent Paramount Global have reportedly already started to take place.
According to a report by Puck’s Jon Ourand, executives tied to the newly formed Paramount Skydance organization, which emerged after David Ellison completed the acquisition of Paramount, confirmed that conversations with the NFL have begun regarding the future of the league’s Sunday afternoon package currently carried by CBS.
The existing agreement, which runs through the end of 2029, sees CBS paying roughly $2.1 billion annually to televise its slate of AFC games. That figure is expected to rise sharply once the next round of deals takes shape, according to the reporting.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last year began hinting that the league would be open to discussing their media deals with partners as soon as this coming summer.
“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 said to CNBC last year. “Obviously, it’s not going to happen this year. But it could happen as early as next year. That could happen.”
According to Ourand, analysts who track the sports media sector expect significant growth in NFL media rights. They estimate annual revenue could rise from about $10 billion today. Future deals could push that total to between $18 billion and $20 billion.
Should those projections prove accurate, the league’s upcoming negotiations would represent one of the largest rights escalations in the history of sports broadcasting.
The NFL has a contractual opt-out with most of its rights holders after the 2029 season. Before Super Bowl LX last month, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will be looking to maximize both reach and revenue in new pacts.
“What we focus on is ‘How do we reach the broadest number of people, on every broadcast? How do we make an event out of that?’” Goodell said. “We select our partners in part for that reason. Economics are obviously part of that, the value that’s created. But at the end of the day, we want partners who are going to broaden our audience.”
While initial expectations inside media companies suggested the league might wait until later in the year to begin formal negotiations, recent signals from league leadership indicate the NFL could attempt to finalize updated deals before the start of the next regular season. By accelerating the timeline, the league would avoid the uncertainty tied to the opt-out clauses built into its current agreements.
If a new arrangement with CBS emerges first, the NFL is widely expected to continue talks with FOX Sports, who holds the league’s other primary Sunday afternoon broadcast window.
Regulatory scrutiny could also play a role as negotiations progress. The Federal Communications Commission has begun gathering public feedback on the increasing shift of live sports toward streaming services, while lawmakers on Capitol Hill have raised questions about the long-term balance between traditional broadcast distribution and digital delivery.
With discussions now underway and billions of dollars at stake, the NFL’s next media rights cycle could define how professional football reaches audiences throughout the next decade.
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