The NFL is back at the media rights trough, this time for its three-day draft extravaganza.
ESPN, Fox Sports and YouTube TV have each submitted multi-year bids to acquire NFL Draft rights beginning in 2026, John Ourand of Puck reported Thursday , and NBC Sports and Amazon are also believed to have interest. ESPN is the incumbent and, per Ourand, is the frontrunner to retain the event, which it has carried since 1980.
Fox Sports simulcast NFL Network’s draft coverage in 2017, a move widely perceived at the time as a shot across ESPN’s bow at a low point in the network’s relationship with the league. That is the only time any network has carried the draft other than ESPN/ABC and NFL Network.
YouTube TV, which owns the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market package, has never produced its own NFL telecast — but that has not been an impediment for the league in the past. One need only look as far as its three-year rights deal with Netflix for Christmas Day games .
As for NBC and Amazon, both outlets have been in acquisition mode of late, striking long-term, expensive deals with the NBA.
Given the audience for the Draft — a three-day average of 5.9 million across three networks, including 12.1 million for the opening round — the number of suitors is not surprising.
With the future of NFL Network uncertain, it is not clear whether the primary draft telecast will continue to coexist with a league-owned alternative. Draft rights would only be more valuable to the networks without NFL Network siphoning away viewers.
Per multiple reports last year, ESPN and the NFL have held discussions on a deal that would shift NFL Network — and all of NFL Media — under the network’s control . It would not be difficult to imagine the NFL Network presentation existing as part of an ESPN “Megacast” in that scenario, though it has been months since any news was broken to that end.
The post YouTube TV, Fox, among challengers for ESPN’s NFL Draft rights appeared first on Sports Media Watch .
Most Popular
Comments / 0