The next round of NFL rights negotiations could include a major change to the Sunday afternoon packages.
Variety reported Tuesday that the NFL and its television partners have discussed eliminating the conference affiliation for the league’s Sunday afternoon packages. Instead of CBS holding rights to the AFC and FOX the NFC, rightsholders would be able to air games from either conference.
The idea is just one possibility that has been broached during “extremely preliminary” talks between the league and its partners.
The NFL’s current television deals with FOX and CBS allow for ‘cross-flexing,’ in which the networks are allowed to occasionally air games from the conference they do not have rights to. Last season, for example, CBS aired a Dallas-Washington game for the first time since it last held NFC rights in the early 1990s.
The NFL’s deals with FOX, CBS and NBC expire after the 2022 season, and its deal with ESPN expires after 2021. With the next negotiations imminent, there have been early whispers about what the next deals could look like. Multiple reports have indicated that ESPN will include ABC in some capacity.
Turner Sports, which under restructuring by new parent company AT&T is now being overseen by CNN president Jeff Zucker, might be a player as well. When asked by Variety whether Turner would be interested in NFL rights, Zucker said that it was “not going to take anything off the table.” (Keep in mind that the only newsworthy response to that question would have been “no, we have no interest in the NFL.”)
[News from Variety 3.5]
