NBC Sports will retain the U.S. rights to Premier League broadcasts, albeit at around double what it was paying previously.

Final bids for U.S. Premier League rights were due Thursday, with ESPN presenting the biggest challenge to NBC. CBS was previously reported to be in the running, as well.

The deal is reportedly worth $2.7 billion over six years — more than double the $1.1 billion Comcast-owned NBC paid for the six years from 2015. NBC’s current deal runs through the 2021-2022 season.

• The deal is largest U.S. soccer rights deal to date, eclipsing ESPN’s eight-year, $1.4 billion pact for La Liga’s U.S. rights, signed in May.
• In May, the league rolled over its existing domestic broadcast contracts with Sky, BT, and Amazon instead of initiating an auction process. Those deals, which run from 2022-2025, are worth a combined $7 billion.

Premier League viewership has been trending upward in the U.S. NBC’s broadcasts averaged 462,000 viewers during the 2019-2020 season, and 414,000 during the pandemic-affected 2020-2021 season.

U.S.-based Major League Soccer, by comparison, averaged 384,000 viewers during the 2021 season on Disney-owned ESPN and ABC.

The Premier League also announced $33.7 million in funding support for its clubs on Thursday, the first installment in a $134.8 million relief plan.

Fenway Sports Group could reportedly pay roughly $900 million to buy the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, according to DK Pittsburgh Sports.

The Penguins were on the verge of bankruptcy in 1999 when grocery chain mogul Ron Burkle and former NHL star Mario Lemieux purchased the team for $107 million. The five-time Stanley Cup winners were valued at $650 million by Forbes last December, the 11th-most-valuable franchise in the NHL.

Purchasing the Penguins would add to FSG’s diverse portfolio of team ownership stakes.

• FSG bought the Boston Red Sox in 2002 for $380 million — the team was valued at $3.47 billion in March.
• In 2007, it purchased 50% of RFK Racing — formerly known as Roush Fenway Racing prior to Brad Keselowski buying a minority stake in the team on Tuesday.
• The group bought Liverpool FC in 2010 for $440 million — the team was valued at $4.1 billion in April.

Earlier this year, RedBird Capital Partners invested $750 million in FSG, valuing the holding company at around $7.35 billion.

The investment came alongside LeBron James joining FSG as partner and increasing his stake in Liverpool after acquiring 2% of the team in 2011 for $6.5 million.

Chip manufacturer Nvidia’s third-quarter revenue jumped 55% year-over-year to $7.1 billion, far exceeding analysts’ estimates of $6.82 billion. Its $6.51 billion haul in Q2 was a record at the time.

Nvidia’s biggest division — gaming — rose 42% to $3.2 billion in sales, largely attributed to sales of GeForce consumer graphics processors. The processors, released in Q2, are still in limited supply.

The strong report boosted the company past an $800 billion market cap — as of Thursday morning, its stock was up more than 124% year-to-date.

• Data center sales jumped 55% year-over-year to $2.9 billion.
• Automotive sales grew 8% year-over-year to $135 million.
• Its professional visualization product line rose 144% year-over-year to $577 million.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer is projecting Nvidia to be the next trillion-dollar company. The company expects to beat analysts’ revenue estimates ($6.86 billion) again this quarter, hitting $7.4 billion.

Earlier this week, Nvidia faced more scrutiny from U.K. regulators over its intended $40 billion acquisition of semiconductor and software company Arm, which was acquired by SoftBank for $31 billion in 2016.

British authorities launched a 24-week probe looking at national security risks and competition concerns.