Team Drops $10B in Super Bowl Strategy; Patriots Rave!
It's spring, when an old man's fancy turns to thoughts of money. (Then again, that's basically true in summer, fall, and winter, too. ) The NFL and CBS are indeed working toward a new rights deal, we're told.
News of another contract between the NFL and CBS emerged via John Ourand of Puck . More recently, Alex Sherman of CNBC echoed the same sentiment, adding that CBS may add another " $1 billion or more " to its current annual rate of $2. 1 billion.
Under a new agreement, CBS would retain its Sunday afternoon package that features a pair of weekly windows and, roughly every other week, a late-afternoon (mostly) national game that will often generate gigantic audience numbers. Here's the most important wrinkle. In lieu of tacking the new arrangement onto the back end of a current deal that the NFL could (and would) scrap after the 2029 season, the new rate would take effect "as soon as next season," with an eight-year duration.
And so, basically, CBS could end up paying an extra $4 billion or more over the course of four seasons that had already been contractually settled. But that's the price to pay for the hottest property in all of broadcasting. Nothing gathers a live audience like NFL football.
With the recent NBA deals making the existing NFL deals look paltry by comparison, Big Shield isn't content to wait until 2030 to make up the big gap that a smaller sport has managed to finagle. The thinking is that, after finishing up the CBS contract, that template will then be used for the other companies that hold current windows. Pay more now, and keep the package through 2033.