Big Ticket Sports Rights Deals Locked Up Until Next Decade

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2014/10/13/Media/Next-media-rights.aspx

By John Ourand, Staff Writer

The clearest indicator of the current market for sports rights after the NBA deals is the fact that ESPN is in the middle of negotiations to renew its rights to … the Cricket World Cup.

The big-ticket rights are all under contract into the next decade, a rare and remarkable fact that leaves U.S. networks with the opportunity to take a closer look at niche sports like cricket.

The NFL and Major League Baseball’s TV deals last until 2021, NASCAR runs through 2022, and now the NBA is locked up until 2025. 
That’s not all. The NHL’s NBC deal

SBJ Podcast:
Media writer John Ourand, NBA reporter John Lombardo and Executive Editor Abraham Madkour analyze the NBA's massive new media rights deal on the day it was announced.

goes through the 2020-21 season; the PGA Tour’s CBS and NBC deals run through 2021; and the MLS’s ESPN and Fox deals last until 2022. The new college football playoffs run through 2026.

“If you’re a 24-hour sports channel looking to acquire live sports, there’s not a lot left for the moment,” said Turner Broadcasting System President David Levy.

The NFL’s Thursday night package with CBS expires after this season, with the NFL holding an option to extend it by one year. Even though it’s only an eight-game package, it is certain to draw a lot of interest.

The next all-encompassing big rights deals will be when the Big Ten Conference’s pacts with ESPN and Fox expire in 2017. Insiders don’t expect to start those negotiations for at least a year. ESPN and Fox have said they want to renew; NBC Sports is believed to be interested, as well.

While U.S. league rights run into the next decade, most rights to international sports have much shorter deals. NBC’s deal with the English Premier League ends next year, and that’s expected to draw a great deal of interest. NBC’s deal with Formula One ends in 2016, and ESPN’s British Open deal runs through 2017.

“The NBA deal really solidifies our portfolio of live rights for a long period of time,” said John Wildhack, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming and production.

ESPN holds rights to the NFL, MLB, NBA and the College Football Playoff. And, soon, it may even have a new deal for the Cricket World Cup.