The NFL’s ongoing media rights discussions could reportedly end in 10-year deals that exceed $100 billion in total value. All of the league’s current broadcast deals expire by 2022. 

Negotiations might not result in much of a shakeup to the current network landscape, despite previous reports of bidding wars between ESPN and NBC for Sunday night rights.

The biggest change could be Amazon becoming the primary Thursday night rights holder — historically the least desirable package — edging out Fox. 

The expected structure, per The New York Post:

• “Thursday Night Football” — Amazon
• Sunday afternoon games — CBS and Fox
• “Sunday Night Football” — NBC
• “Monday Night Football” — ESPN/ABC

Disney is expected to add Super Bowls to its package. One option entails the league assigning the Super Bowl for eight years of the 10-year contracts — two years each to ABC/ESPN, NBC, CBS and Fox — then auctioning off the final two years at a later date. 

Sunday NFL Ticket rights could also be in play, as it’s not expected to remain on DirecTV. AT&T is currently pursuing a sale of the struggling satellite division as it looks to alleviate around $160 billion in debt.

Amazon, ESPN+ and Apple TV+ are seen as top candidates for streaming rights to all the Sunday games. The league could sell the package to multiple carriers, and move on from DirecTV’s exclusive $1.5 billion per year contract.

Another U.S. investment group has entered European soccer with ALK Capital’s purchase of English Premier League team Burnley.

Led by former Real Salt Lake CEO Alan Pace, ALK secured an 84% stake in the team last week.

The deal is believed to have cost ALK up to $270 million. Earlier this year, ALK invested in AiScout and Player LENS — London-based soccer technology companies.

Burnley is currently ranked 16th in the Premier League and in potential danger of being relegated to the second division. Pace says that he is ready to spend to help the club.

Premier League Clubs With American Majority Ownership

• Arsenal
• Crystal Palace
• Fulham
• Liverpool
• Manchester United

Leeds United and Aston Villa have American part-owners.

Actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney invested $2.6 million into Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC in November. Their plans include growing the team’s popularity with “Hard Knocks”-esque media content.

Iowa-based Krause Group acquired 90% of Italy’s Parma Calcio 1913 in September in a deal reportedly valuing the team at more than $100 million. There are multiple American ownership groups in the Italian Serie A and the French Ligue 1.

Beyond teams, league media rights subsidiaries are ripe opportunities for investment firms. New companies handling media rights for Serie A, Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga have all solicited investment to help offset losses from the pandemic.

Former NBA forward Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman is the new owner of legacy Black media company Ebony after bidding $14 million for it in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

His company, Bridgeman Sports and Media, was announced as the successful bidder for Ebony Media’s assets by a Houston bankruptcy court in December.

With the purchase, Bridgeman becomes the latest athlete with ownership in a media company. 

• Former MLB star Derek Jeter founded The Players’ Tribune in 2014. 
• Spanish soccer player David Villa founded soccer content productions company Designated Player in 2018.
• LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry are among the handful of NBA players who have their own production companies.

Despite Ebony’s recent financial woes — it defaulted on more than $10 million in loans in July — Bridgeman believes he can return it to both profitability and a place of prominence in American culture with “the right ideas and the right execution.” The monthly lifestyle magazine launched in 1945. 

Bridgeman, 67, has flourished as a businessman since retiring in 1987. 

• He once owned more than 240 restaurant franchises, making him the second-largest franchise owner in the U.S., employing 18,000 people.
• He sold his restaurant interests and in 2017 launched Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Co. 
• He briefly owned a minority stake in the Sacramento Kings. 

In late 2018, Bridgeman and a group of investors were considered the leading contenders to buy Sports Illustrated from Meredith Corp., but dropped the efforts in early 2019 when now-owner Authentic Brands Group made a $110 million bid.

Bridgeman’s net worth is estimated to be around $600 million.

Rush Street Interactive started trading on the New York Stock Exchange last week after going public through a SPAC merger that values the company at $1.8 billion.

The move signals the continued growth in publicly traded gambling companies and the future promise of sports betting and online casinos. RSI closed its first two days of trading at $21.65 per share, down about 6% from the company’s debut.

RSI operates online casinos and mobile sportsbooks in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as mobile sportsbooks in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.

Publicly Traded Gaming Boom

• DraftKings went public in April through a SPAC merger.
• Golden Nugget Online Gaming — owned by Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta — went public on Dec. 30 through a SPAC merger.
• Mobile gaming company Skillz went public in December through a SPAC merger.
• Sports betting data provider Genius Sports is going public through a SPAC merger early this year as well.

With a stake in both online casinos and sports betting, Rush Street CEO Greg Carlin believes a mature U.S. iGaming market could be worth $20 billion, while sports betting could hit $15 billion.

U.S. bettors legally wagered $3 billion on sports for the first time in October 2020.

At the end of 2020, there were 20 legal U.S. sports betting markets, but just five states with legal iGaming or online poker. Both will increase in 2021 as multiple states have passed legislation to legalize them.

A look at the potential: In an established online betting market like Pennsylvania, sports wagering grew 153.7% year-over-year in November.

Comparatively, online casino slot and table games exploded in the state, jumping 673.4% and 592.2%, respectively.