Premier League football teams are invited to a massive American pay-day, with CBS and NBC competing for the rights to broadcast their games for a staggering $2BILLION.
Even though there was concern that English football’s appeal in America may have diminished during the outbreak of the coronavirus, the most recent sale of television rights is expected to double the previous deal.
According to The Financial Times, only three broadcasters are left vying in the race for this prize. Bids will be accepted into second round by Comcast’s NBC, ViacomCBS, and Disney’s ESPN.
To secure television rights to the Premier League, three large American corporations are competing for them
CBS, NBC, ESPN and ESPN all want to broadcast the English top flight.
NBC currently hold the rights to show the English top flight Stateside, which they acquired in a deal worth around $1bn (£745.3m) in 2015, but it is now claimed this year’s deal will be sealed at around $2bn (£1.49bn).
According to Premier League executives, the staggering figure is more than they expected. The 20 members clubs will enjoy a substantial windfall. It will also be the most lucrative ever outbound TV deal.
The Covid pandemic saw Premier League clubs lose around £2bn in broadcast and matchday revenue across the two disrupted seasons, so the new US deal will come as a huge financial boost.
When the UK Premier League TV rights renewal came round in May of this year, Sky, BT and Amazon agreed to roll over their existing £5bn agreement, ensuring no financial improvement on the previous deal.
NBC is currently the exclusive rights holder for Premier League coverage. They paid $1bn to acquire the right.
A Times Square billboard promoting Premier League in 2013. This was when NBC won a contract in 2013.
However, in the US, this does not look to be the case with three bidders competing for the deal, which runs from 2022-23 until 2027-228.
This deal is significant for soccer as a whole. It indicates that football is making a comeback in the US, a market previously dominated primarily by American basketball and American football.
The FT also report that the figures being bandied around for the US TV deal are so high because of the need for TV companies to show live sport.
The rise of streaming media platforms such as Netflix has seen huge changes in TV viewing habits.
Covid-19 promises a massive, but much-needed, boost for Premier League clubs.
In the past, America’s live sporting market was controlled by MLB (pictured), NBA (pictured) and NFL (pictured).
The number one most-viewed item [on television]The theme of every year is sports,” said Bob Chapek (Disney chief executive), at a conference held in September.
After several deals in the past months, this is only the Premier League rights contract that an American broadcaster has purchased.
In May, ESPN acquired the rights to show Spanish LaLiga matches in a contract worth $1.4bn (£1.04bn), while CBS have the rights to show the UEFA Champions League, Serie A and most recently the FA Women’s Super League.
On NBC, Premier League matches averaged 879,000 viewers per match for the 2020-21 season, up two per cent from the previous year, and it does seem to be increasing with Manchester City’s 4-1 away win against Liverpool in February attracting an audience of over 1m.
Richard Scudamore, then-premier league chief executive (right), meets Mark Lazarus, former chairman of NBC Sports Group in Connecticut. This was after NBC signed their rights agreement back in 2013.