Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League (NFL), at the Hope Global Forums annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images
MELBOURNE, Australia — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he will consider reworking game packages when the league inks its next media rights deal to adjust for modern TV consumption habits and the shift to streaming.
“One of the things we’re doing as a league is talking to our partners, talking to future partners, potential partners … and evaluating, should we repackage our current packages? Should we think differently about where we go with those things?” Goodell said in an exclusive interview with CNBC ahead of the Week 1 game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams, the league’s first regular-season matchup in Australia. The game will take place Thursday night at 8:35 p.m. ET.
The NFL currently sells two Sunday afternoon game packages, a Sunday Night Football slate, a Monday Night Football package, and Thursday Night Football games. Fox and Paramount Skydance-owned CBS have the Sunday afternoon game rights, while NBC has Sunday Night Football, Disney’s ESPN and ABC own Monday Night Football and Amazon has Thursday Night Football.
Netflix also bought the rights to five additional NFL games this season.
The NFL has an opt-out clause that it can trigger at the end of the 2029-30 season to redo and resell its existing packages. Goodell wouldn’t say if the league plans to take advantage of that option.
“We don’t have to make that decision today. That’s the reason you have an option,” Goodell said. “[What] we said all along is that the option would be incredibly valuable to the NFL — to be able to evaluate what’s happening in the media landscape, to be able to look at the things that are happening out there and make the best decision for our fans and for our clubs and how we make sure we present our game in the best possible way and do it with the proper value.”
Several of the NFL’s current media partners are undergoing significant transformations this year.
Paramount is attempting to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion in a deal that’s been delayed amid an antitrust challenge. Fox has agreed to buy Roku for $22 billion. Comcast said earlier this year it plans to spin off NBCUniversal.
The shifting media landscape is likely to factor in when the NFL renegotiates its packages.
Goodell also noted that reaching fans globally is a new priority for the league, which will play games in countries including Spain, France and Brazil this season. Netflix owns the global broadcast rights to the 49ers-Rams game.
Still, most NFL game rights are U.S.-only.
“The world is changing for our partners. It’s changing for us. It’s changing for fans. Our fans are moving to other platforms,” said Goodell. “I think one of the challenges for us is to look at the changes, evaluate what’s working, what’s not, what we think is going to work beyond those option dates and the partners that can bring the greatest opportunity to reach those fans on a global basis. … We’ve never looked at it that way until recently.”
Goodell said broadcast TV will continue to play a major role in the league’s media rights strategy to ensure that local markets have free, over-the-air access to games. Local broadcast stations simulcast games on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video so regional fans can watch.
“One hundred percent of our games are available on broadcast television. I see that continuing,” said Goodell.
