NFL media chief Hans Schroeder told CNBC Sports on Friday that the NFL will be in talks with non-traditional media companies to potentially sell rights to live games.
“We have some people who are partners in a smaller sense, maybe not the complete package, but we’re partners in both ways, and others who still want to be partners with live NFL games elsewhere in the media world,” Schroeder said in an interview with Radio Row ahead of Super Bowl LX in San Francisco.
“We will have those discussions,” he added. “We want to understand all of our options and understand what we think is the best model moving forward for us, our fans, our team. So to your questions, you know, we’re going to listen and there’s probably going to be a lot of different people that want to have conversations with us, and we’re very fortunate. We say that with humility, and we’re going to make sure we understand those conversations.”
Schroeder did not provide details about which companies might be interested in purchasing the live games. NFL sold 1 game per week YouTube It cost about $100 million last season and is a one-time strategy that can be replicated on other digital platforms. The society-wide shift to streaming has made digital a rival to broadcast television, and its reach has long made it the league’s preferred distribution strategy.
“Now we’re seeing these big digital platforms that can reach broadcast-level audiences,” Schroeder said. “It just creates more options.”
NFL and its traditional media partners — disney, paramount global, comcastNBCUniversal and Amazon Officials say discussions on new media rights are likely to begin later this year, four years earlier than the current deal’s opt-out clause. Schroder echoed comments made by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to CNBC in September that the league was open to such negotiations.
“I’m confident they’ll be doing their job when the time comes, because either they want to kind of press the ‘engage’ button, or the commissioner said, ‘Okay, let’s do this,'” Schroeder said.
The NFL will expand the number of international games next season to a record nine. He said the league could sell new packages for some games to media partners as early as next year.
“That’s probably one of the things we’re looking at,” Schroeder said.
