• by Wayne Friedman , March 18, 2021

The NFL, TV’s biggest programming franchise in terms of revenue and viewership, has struck a new round of 11-year long-term deals with TV networks, according to the league. It will total a massive $100 billion in sports-right fees over the time span, according to reports.

Three of the TV networks will witnessed an eye-popping 100% increase in yearly sports-rights fees -- Fox, NBC and CBS -- which had been anticipated. The exception being ESPN, which will see a 30% to 35% rise.

Also expected, Amazon gains exclusive rights to “Thursday Night Football” for $1 billion per year, according to reports -- a package that will only be available to consumers with an Amazon Prime Video monthly subscription.

NBC will continue to air “Sunday Night Football.”

Fox and CBS air Sunday afternoon NFL games. Fox has the NFC conference games, and CBS runs the AFC conference games. ESPN will continue to air “Monday Night Football.”

ESPN’s sister network, ABC, will get to air two Super Bowl games over the length of the 11-year deal, as well as some exclusive regular-season games. NBC, Fox, and CBS will each get to air three Super Bowl over the length of their deals.

Key in the deal for TV networks is the right to air games simultaneously on their respective streaming platforms, including Peacock for NBCU, Paramount+ for ViacomCBS and Tubi for Fox.

NFL Network will continue to televise a select schedule of exclusive NFL games on a yearly basis.

In turn, NFL marketing partners can take advantage of those new streaming outlets with new messaging opportunities.

An NFL spokesperson did not respond to inquiries by press time with regard to financial specifics around the new contracts.

For the just-completed year, regular-season NFL games averaged 15.4 million Nielsen-measured viewers, down 7% from the year before.