The NFL is pushing back at NBC after learning the network is paying roughly $500 million more annually for NBA rights than it does for its NFL package, a discrepancy that has frustrated league officials and executives.
NBC currently pays the NFL around $2 billion per year for Sunday Night Football, select playoff games, and the Super Bowl once every four years, under a media rights deal that began in 2023 and runs through 2033.
That’s why Roger Goodell and league leaders were unsettled when NBC agreed to an 11-year, roughly $2.5 billion per year contract with the NBA, outpacing what it pays for football.
“Executives at the NFL are irritated. That deal irritated them,” journalist John Ourand said on Andrew Marchand‘s podcast. “The idea that NBC is paying more for Sunday Night Basketball than for Sunday Night Football.
“These are people and personalities, and it makes the executives at the NFL crazy that that happens. So could they come in and just start to turn the (knob) because of that NBA deal?”
The league’s current rights extend to 2033, with an opt-out clause in 2029, yet NFL officials are not waiting that long to seek a new deal they see as more commensurate with the league’s viewership and revenue.
February 2026 reports show networks are already preparing for these negotiations, with NBC Sports running financial models in anticipation of early talks, indicating the NFL‘s leverage is prompting immediate strategic adjustments.
The NFL has reason to be frustrated with NBC, as the network pays roughly $500 million more annually for NBA rights than for Sunday Night Football, even though football consistently dominates U.S. television viewership.
NBC pays around $2 billion per year for NFL coverage, including Sunday Night Football, select playoff games, and the Super Bowl. This 11-year deal began in 2023, with an opt-out clause available in 2029.
When NBC signed its NBA deal worth about $2.5 billion annually, NFL executives were irritated, believing football’s value is far higher than basketball’s primetime package.
With NFL ratings continuing to dwarf the NBA‘s, there’s growing momentum for early renegotiations, and NBC is already modeling potential adjustments to prepare for league demands this year.
“It shakes out with the networks paying a ton more money to the NFL. A ton more,” Ourand said, noting how Premier League rights could further influence negotiations and network priorities.
Premier League popularity emphasised on Super Bowl 60 day
Yet the Premier League and European soccer operate on a different scale of global popularity. The Premier League offers worldwide reach unlike the NFL, broadcast in over 200 territories and 643 million homes, with an estimated 4.7 billion viewers, far exceeding the NBA‘s footprint in raw audience numbers.
For example, the Liverpool vs Manchester City match on February 8 is estimated to have pulled between 720 and 750 million viewers worldwide, surpassing even marquee U.S. events like Super Bowl LX in 2026, hosted on the same day.
The Seattle Seahawks vs New England Patriots drew 128.5 million viewers in the U.S. and roughly 215 million globally, peaking when Bad Bunny performed during the Apple Music Halftime Show.
NFL games average 15 to 20 million viewers per game, with Sunday Night Football reaching 23.5 million in 2025. NBA games average just 1.5 million viewers, and even the Finals average only 10.3 million.
Even so, the NFL retains unmatched domestic influence, which gives the league significant leverage in negotiations. That bargaining power could prove crucial in securing its financial future as networks like NBC, Prime Video, and others invest heavily in the Premier League and the NBA simultaneously.
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