The behemoth of U.S. television is angling to capitalize on its surging popularity even earlier than expected.

The NFL, by far the most-watched programming anywhere in the business, could start discussions on new rights pacts as soon as next year, according to a CNBC report. The league was already a “virtual lock” to exercise an opt-out after the 2029 season in most of its domestic rights deals, but starting talks with networks in 2026 on new pacts would be a full seven years before the 2033 expiration of its current deals with Amazon, CBS, ESPN, Fox, and NBC. 

“I think our partners would want to sit down and talk to us at any time, and we continue to dialogue with them. I like that opportunity,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said to CNBC. “Obviously, it’s not going to happen this year. But it could happen as early as next year. That could happen.”

An industry source told Front Office Sports that the possibility of earlier talks is one of a series of potential scenarios for the NFL connected to the upcoming contract opt-outs. Goodell and Patriots owner Bob Kraft, the head of the NFL’s media committee, remain in regular contact with all the network and streaming platform heads, in part through events such as the league’s annual meeting and the Sun Valley Conference. 

Ultimately, though, all roads point to the league garnering a sizable increase from the more than $10 billion per year it collectively gets in domestic rights, and Goodell is already on record thinking the NFL’s rights are “undervalued.”

“The networks are eventually going to have to pay up,” a source told FOS.

Deal Points

There are plenty of reasons why the NFL would want to push the envelope as soon as possible regarding its domestic media rights, the league’s top revenue source. Thanks in part to Nielsen’s newly introduced Big Data + Panel audience measurement process, the NFL is off to a historic start to the season, and its power to aggregate audiences is reaching unprecedented levels.

After setting a U.S. television record in February with the audience for Super Bowl LIX, the first two weeks of the 2025 regular season hit another viewership milestone, averaging 20.7 million viewers per game. There have been several individual records established within that, particularly the Week 2 Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs that was Fox’s most-watched regular-season Sunday game in network history. 

More records are expected as the season continues, particularly with the late-afternoon Thanksgiving game between the Chiefs and Cowboys. 

That lofty status, however, is not guaranteed as the entire media business goes through historic levels of disruption amid the growing rise of streaming. 

Additional factors at play include the likely arrival of an 18th regular-season game in the NFL schedule, MLB’s own pursuit of a media-rights bonanza in 2028, and a volatile political climate that all lend further support to the NFL locking in an elevated long-term situation for its rights.

For more on the NFL’s push to jump-start its next TV rights deals, read the complete story by Eric Fisher and Michael McCarthy here.

MLB is officially adopting its automated ball-strike system, also known as “robot umps,” for challenges. FOS newsletter writer Eric Fisher spoke to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred about the ABS system last week and joins to explain how this new technology will impact baseball.

Plus, U.S. women’s national team stars Sam and Kristie Mewis join to discuss changes to women’s soccer, including massive transfer fees, new combines for players, and the potential expansion of the World Cup to 64 teams. They also give a sneak peek into Mewis Squared, their new show that debuts Friday for The Women’s Game, part of the Men in Blazers Media Network.

Also, new Trail Blazers minority owners could have their acquisition blocked, Ace Bailey fires his controversial manager, and a college basketball icon retires.

Watch the full episode here.

ABC ⬆ The network broadcast the two most-watched college football games of Week 4, Miami-Florida (6.5 million viewers) and Oklahoma-Auburn (6.1 million viewers). ABC is seeing its best CFB TV ratings through four weeks since 2006.

Ryder Cup fans ⬆⬇ The tournament’s opening ceremony was moved up from Thursday afternoon to Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, in anticipation of inclement weather on Thursday. Fans who had Thursday tickets were allowed to attend Wednesday, but no information about potential refunds was given. Typically, the U.S. and Europe captains announce their opening-round tee times at the ceremony, but due to the change, they will announce them on Thursday afternoon, roughly 24 hours after the Wednesday ceremony.

Tom Brady ⬆⬇ The NFL legend and Fox Sports broadcaster pushed back again on continuing conflict-of-interest claims in his weekly newsletter and insisted there are no issues between his positions on television and as a Raiders part-owner. “The point where my roles [in the NFL] intersect is not actually a point of conflict, despite what the paranoid and distrustful might believe,” Brady wrote. “Rather, it’s the place from which my ethical duty emerges.”

Precocious sports success ⬇ Former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker said he regrets winning the tennis major in 1985 at the age of 17, becoming the event’s youngest men’s champion in a record that still stands. Becker won an additional five Grand Slams, but later had an extended series of personal difficulties that included a jail sentence for bankruptcy fraud. “When you start a second career, everything is measured at this success of winning Wimbledon at 17. And that changed the road ahead tremendously,” Becker said to the BBC in conjunction with a new autobiography.