US Open tennis will remain on ESPN for the long haul under a 12-year extension announced Wednesday.
ESPN will continue airing the US Open through 2037 after reaching a 12-year extension with the USTA, the network announced during its media day Wednesday. Under the deal — which begins in 2026 — ESPN has the right to sublicense some coverage of the tournament, which annually coincides with the start of the pro and college football seasons.
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, the deal is worth $170 million per year and $2.1 billion over the life of the contract.
There new deal codifies several of the elements that are already in place, including Sunday coverage on ABC — which starting this year will include the men’s final — and coverage of the pre-tournament “Fan Week” events on ESPN2. New in the deal is whiparound coverage on ESPN+, which will take place during the first week of play, part of an overall expansion of streaming rights.
ESPN now has rights to three of the four tennis majors through the end of this decade, having previously reached deals to keep the Australian Open and Wimbledon through 2031 and 2035 respectively. For a full list of sports rights deals, see this page.
Though it is not clear how much — if any — competition ESPN faced for US Open rights, Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent buying spree included acquiring exclusive rights to the French Open. ESPN and WBD already have a sublicensing agreement for the College Football Playoff, making a potential agreement for some portion of the US Open a possibility. Alternatively, should ESPN decide to exercise its sublicensing option, Tennis Channel would presumably be an option.
ESPN acquired exclusive rights to the US Open in 2015 and first began airing the event in 2009, splitting the cable package with Tennis Channel in those years. USA Network served as the tournament’s cable partner from 1984-2008 and CBS aired coverage on broadcast television from 1968-2014.
