Billions of dollars are flying around
By Mo Hussain, Sports Reporter
It will be interesting to see whether the NFL remains broadcasting many of its games on cable TV, or if digital streaming will have a much bigger and more lucrative presence this time around.
With the NHL recently agreeing to a multi-year deal with ESPN to broadcast its games starting next season, it’s time to look back at some of the most lucrative sports TV deals in recent memory:
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA): $19.6 billion
While the debate around whether the NCAA should pay its players continues to be a hot topic of discussion in North America, there’s certainly no debate as to whether to NCAA is generating a lot of money. The NCAA initially agreed to a fourteen year deal worth $10.8 billion with CBS and Turner Sports to broadcast men’s basketball games in 2010. The two parties then reached another agreement close to the middle of their existing deal in 2016 when they agreed to an eight year $8.8 billion extension.
National Basketball Association (NBA): $24 billion
As many can tell by now, the sport of basketball is a big money maker. In 2014, the NBA agreed to a massive nine-year and $24-billion deal with ESPN and TNT to broadcast its games. The deal had a massive impact on the NBA’s salary cap; the cap went from $70,000,000 to $94,143,000 once the deal was in effect.
National Football League (NFL): $27 billion
Although basketball is no joke when it comes to making money, it would only make sense that the highest revenue sports league in the world has the highest paying TV deals. In 2011, the NFL agreed to a nine-year contract extension with FOX, NBC, and CBS to broadcast its games. This, in addition to other agreements, made the NFL’s cumulative TV deals worth $27 billion. The deal kicked off in 2013 and is coming up in 2022.
The NFL is currently in talks to reportedly finalize another deal relatively soon. It will be interesting to see whether the NFL remains broadcasting many of its games on cable TV, or if digital streaming will have a much bigger and more lucrative presence this time around.
Considering the significant decline in TV viewership combined with the increase in online viewership, the amount of lucrative TV deals like the ones mentioned above will likely decrease in the coming years. As it was said with the NFL, it will be interesting to see if one of the major digital streaming giants will pull the trigger on a massive deal to broadcast live sports in the coming years.
