Premier League Extends Bidding War for U.S. Rights

The Premier League has reportedly pivoted and opened another round of bids that will see ESPN, CBS, and NBC compete for U.S. broadcasting rights to the world’s richest soccer league.  

A second round of bidding indicates the league will likely increase its original asking price. 

Comcast’s NBC Sports has held U.S. rights to the Premier League since 2013 and pays $150 million per year. That deal expires at the end of the 2021-2022 season. 

With a new deal, the Premier League is expected to pocket at least $1.5 billion over six years starting with the 2022-2023 season, providing each of the league’s 20 clubs with $39.3 million. 

Over the past year, securing rights to international soccer has been an arms race. 

• The Premier League extended its existing domestic rights deals in May with BT, Sky, BBC, and Amazon — worth a combined $7 billion — to 2025.
• The same month, Disney’s ESPN agreed to an eight-year rights deal with Spain’s La Liga valued at $175 million per season. 
• Amazon secured U.S. rights to eight matches from each round of France’s Ligue 1 in June for $302.6 million per year. 

The new U.S. rights deal will help the Premier League recover from the pandemic after its clubs lost $1.4 billion despite generating $6.3 billion in revenue for the 2019-20 season — the biggest collective loss in league history.

ESPN, NBC, and CBS have until Nov. 18 to submit their second-round bids.