Broadcasters must come together to compete for NFL TV rights, industry executive says

The evolution of live sports programming has become a battleground between traditional broadcasting companies and streaming platforms, fighting for the right to broadcast the best games year after year.

The NFL is the cream of the crop, generating about $10 billion a year from its current media rights deal. And the league is likely to renegotiate the deal later this year, with reports indicating they want it done before the start of Week 1 of the 2026 season in September.

With more media partners potentially joining the new deal, where do incumbents like FOX, CBS and NBC fit in the NFL’s scheduling pie chart?

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Curtis LeGeyt, CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, which lobbies government agencies and lawmakers alike on behalf of the broadcasting industry, spoke with John Ourand on “The Varsity” podcast, where he suggested that the broadcasting industry needs to come together if it wants to continue to compete with broadcast platforms for live sports rights.

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“I think, for better or for worse, (integration) is an important thing right now,” he explained. “And I look at this through a broadcast lens. If we’re going to compete for those NFL sports rights, if we’re going to compete locally to make sure that teams feel like they have a local distribution option that’s freely available through local broadcasts as opposed to regional cable or broadcast sports networks, broadcasters need some scale to accomplish that. The only way to achieve that scale is through some consolidation.”

We are already seeing key mergers across broadcast television, including Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, pending possible approval. Also, the NFL and ESPN reached a historic deal where the sports giant acquired NFL Network, NFL RedZone, and NFL Fantasy. In exchange, the league received a 10% stake in ESPN, which was valued at $3 billion.

A close-up of a broadcast camera operator with a cover bearing the FOX Sports logo during the NFL game between the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 16, 2025 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire)

Bringing these broadcasters together could help compete against the likes of Amazon, Netflix, and perhaps others who will join the fray if and when negotiations for a new media rights deal begin. With JC Tretter named the new executive director of the NFL Players’ Association, those talks may be coming soon.

Now, where does an NFL fan come in to play here? The price of simply watching the NFL program is very expensive, fans must pay at least $575 to watch the entire game if they wish in 2025. The demand for ESPN, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and NFL + subscriptions, among others, only points upward as the prices of the league’s media rights continue to grow.

Fans would love it if they could access their favorite sports if their free-to-air broadcasts did.

A general view of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast with Charissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Whitworth and Richard Sherman during the TNF on Prime halftime show during the NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 2, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

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The FCC said last month it would seek public comment on the ongoing transition of live sports from broadcast stations to streaming services, including some of the nation’s major sports arenas such as the NBA, MLB and others.

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