NBC beats ESPN, CBS to land £1.9bn Premier League TV Rights
NBC has won the Premier League TV Rights to broadcast exclusively all 380 games per season in the United States until the summer of 2028, in a six-year deal worth £1.9billion, a statement from Premier League said.
NBC, who have had the Premier League TV Rights since 2013, won the bidding process from ESPN and CBS to agree on a new six-year contract worth an astonishing £1.9billion.
The deal is almost double the $1billion fee NBC paid for Premier League TV rights in 2015, meaning it is the biggest ever overseas TV deal in the history of the English top-flight league.
That is about double what the broadcaster paid for the most recent cycle and allays fears of the league’s bubble being burst by the coronavirus pandemic in addition to providing the clearest sign yet that the game is reaching new levels of popularity in the States.
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“We are delighted to announce our new US broadcast deal with NBC Sports, who have been brilliant partners for the Premier League over the last nine seasons. NBC Sports has significantly strengthened the popularity of the league in the United States in that time through its fantastic coverage and promotion,” Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive said.
The deal means all 20 clubs are likely to receive payments of more than £10million per season with a distribution model weighted in favour of teams’ finishing places meaning that those who finish in the European places are expected to get a bigger package.
Masters added: “Interest in the Premier League is going from strength to strength and it is great to see the growing global demand to watch our matches and engage with the League.
“Our international and domestic broadcast revenues over the next cycle will give stability and certainty to the game as a whole, which is particularly important as football recovers from COVID-19 losses.
“We are proud to provide more investment into our football pyramid than any other football league in the world.”
It is significant news for football as a whole, with the deal indicating that the sport is breaking through in a US market previously dominated by basketball, American football, and baseball.
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.
The Premier League TV Rights deal is just the latest football contract to be purchased by an American broadcaster after various deals were struck in recent months.
In May, ESPN acquired the rights to show Spanish LaLiga matches in a contract worth $1.4bn (£1.04bn), while CBS has the rights to show the UEFA Champions League, Serie A, and most recently the FA Women’s Super League.
Also, the Premier League announced that an extra £20million will be paid to EFL League One and League Two clubs this season, and an additional £5million will support clubs in the top-three National League divisions until 2025 to aid their financial recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Premier League bosses agreed to a £250m rescue package with their Football League counterparts in December 2020, which gave League One and League Two clubs access to £30m in funding immediately.
