The ultimate guide to the sports rights deals changing how we watch games

Editor’s note: This story was updated on October 21, 2025, to reflect new sports rights deals since it was originally published.

The NBA returns to NBC platforms for the first time in over two decades on Oct. 21, re-affirming the drastic sea change in sports media rights.

When the NBA struck its new landmark broadcast rights deal in 2024, it said its primary objective was to “maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans.”

In today’s terms, accessibility means making more of the season available to fans who prefer to stream games. So it’s not surprising that the NBA’s latest partners include not just broadcast network NBC and its streaming sibling, Peacock, but also Disney’s ESPN, a cable network with a new all-in-one streaming component that launched last month, and Amazon Prime Video, a streaming-only platform.

Streaming continues to influence the rising sums of national sports deals, as tech companies like Amazon and Apple make big plays for sports rights and force traditional media companies to adapt to better compete. On Oct. 17, for instance, Apple announced that it would be the exclusive new home for F1 broadcasts in the U.S.

These publishers see sports rights as a way to cement their place in media as athletic events grow more popular around the world and audiences look for modern ways to watch them. Sports events are among the most-viewed programs on TV, and winning media rights attracts that fandom — as well as advertisers.

“Sports media rights will continue to rise as the live audience continues to be highly coveted and valuable,” Pete Giorgio, who leads Deloitte’s sports practice, told The Current.

Just look at the ratings in recent years: Super Bowl LIX this past February was the most-watched TV program in U.S. history. The NBA playoffs last year lifted TNT as the top-rated basic cable network during its run. The 2024 Summer Olympics attracted an average of 30 million viewers each day, an 82% increase from the 2021 Games. It’s clear why the value of mainstream sports has grown exponentially.

Further, sports give networks the chance to fill out their programming — space that would otherwise require costly original or licensed content. Each NBA team plays 82 games a season, for instance, and every MLB team plays nearly double that.

It’s no wonder, then, that so many sports organizations are fetching an eye-popping amount of money for the privilege of airing their games, races and matches. In the last few seasons, we’ve seen a battle royal among media and tech companies for the rights to leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, UFC and F1.

In fact, S&P Global Market Intelligence projected that the total annual value of U.S. sports rights payments could reach almost $35 billion by 2027.

Traditional linear TV will continue to play a large role in sports media, but declines in that business are tough to ignore; marketers need to know how to navigate this new streaming environment. Read on as The Current breaks down these rights deals for the U.S. major leagues, sport by sport, to help marketers understand the emerging opportunity.

Where the rights stand:

ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery’s TBS and Fox’s deal with the MLB runs through 2028 and is worth $12 billion over seven years. Apple, which streams Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV, is paying nearly $600 million for its deal that goes through 2029.

However, CNBC reported earlier this year that the MLB was nearing a new deal for after its 2028 rights expire. NBC would reportedly get Sunday night games and wild-card playoff games; Netflix would get the Home Run Derby; and ESPN would get a new package to license out-of-market games from MLB.TV.

How it compares to the previous deal:

ESPN is paying less for its current deal with the MLB than it was previously, from $700 million per year to $550 million per year, but because it airs fewer games now. Warner Bros. Discovery's and Fox’s contracts increased by $170 million and $228 million, respectively. Apple wasn’t a player at all prior to the MLB’s current deal; like other leagues, it added a streaming-only partner.

What you need to know:

The MLB struck a deal earlier in 2024 with The Roku Channel for $30 million over three years to stream Sunday early games, the first such deal between a major league and a free ad-supported streaming television platform.

What the experts say:

“Casting a wider net to audiences that aren’t restricted to content behind a paywall breaks down barriers,” Katina Papas Wachter, Roku’s head of integrated brand partnerships, previously told The Current. “The larger the audience opportunity, the higher the chance to find new customers and drive lower-funnel performance. Being able to measure this impact will be one of the many benefits of this partnership.”

Where the rights stand:

The NBA’s new deal with Disney’s ESPN, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Amazon’s Prime Video starts with the 2025–2026 season on Oct. 21, 2025. It’s valued at $76 billion over 11 years. ESPN gets 80 games per season, NBC and Peacock up to 100 games and Amazon 66 regular-season gets games.

How it compares to the previous deal:

The NBA’s previous deal, was worth $24 billion — a third of the new total. It was with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT.

What you need to know:

The WNBA’s new deal — which was negotiated by the NBA and includes the same partners and time frame — also skyrocketed from $50 million per year to $200 million, amid record viewership and booming popularity for women’s sports in general. The 2025 season recently wrapped and saw record ratings for ESPN.

It’s resulted in gains for advertisers too: According to research from Edo, ad engagement during the first half of this WNBA season was up 3% compared to 2024.

What the experts say:

“If you look at it from a league point of view today, the two places you can reach new fans — typically younger people — are streaming and broadcast [because it is free and available to all households],” Jonathan Miller, Integrated Media CEO and a former NBA executive, told The Hollywood Reporter last year.

Where the rights stand:

TKO, which owns WWE and UFC, announced in August that Paramount+ would be UFC’s exclusive new broadcast partner in the U.S., streaming all fights and events starting in 2026. Paramount, which was bought by David Ellison’s Skydance this year, is paying $7.7 billion total (over $1.1 billion per year) for the rights, according to The New York Times.

How it compares to the previous deal:

UFC’s previous partner, ESPN, was paying $550 million per year for the rights, half of what Paramount is paying.

What you need to know:

As for WWE, Netflix has been the home of its Raw series since January 2025, as part of a 10-year, $5 billion deal. And starting in 2026, ESPN will air WWE premium events like WrestleMania in the U.S.

What the experts say:

“The pay-per-view model is a thing of the past,” Mark Shapiro, TKO Group Holdings’s president and chief operating officer, told CNBC. “What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated model. So, it was paramount to us — forgive the pun — where it’s one-stop shopping, especially for our younger fans in flyover states.”

Where the rights stand:

The NFL’s current deal began with the 2023 season and runs through the 2033 season. It included renewals with broadcast networks NBC and CBS, which simulcast games on Peacock and Paramount+, respectively, as well as Fox, which launched the new streamer Fox One before the current NFL season started. ESPN also reupped for Monday Night Football, which simulcasts on the new ESPN streaming service. The league added its first streaming-only package with Amazon Prime Video, which streams Thursday Night Football (TNF). The entire deal was worth $110 billion over 11 years, or $10 billion a year.

How it compares to the previous deal:

The NFL’s current deal is nearly double what it was worth previously at $5.6 billion per year. It didn’t include Amazon, which is paying $1 billion a year for TNF.

What you need to know:

The NFL has been busy striking deals outside of its main rights packages.

The biggest example might be that Netflix will stream two Christmas Day games for the second straight year, while a third will stream on Prime Video.

What the experts say:

“I believe Netflix is observing the landscape,” Anthony Amey, professor of practice of sports media at Virginia Tech, speculated. “It wisely bought itself time to do so and announced itself as a potential threat to poach more rights at a later time by buying the rights to those NFL games specifically.”

Where the rights stand:

The NHL’s most recent agreements are streaming-heavy. Disney’s ESPN and Hulu gained 75 exclusive regular-season games in a seven-year deal that began in 2021; it marked a return to ESPN for the NHL after 16 years. ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro said of the deal after it was announced that streaming is “at the heart of this deal.” As part of the agreement, ESPN+ became the new home of 1,000 out-of-market NHL games. Disney is paying the league about $400 million a year, according to The New York Times.

Separately, what was then WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros. Discovery) struck its own seven-year deal worth over $225 million a year in 2021 to air 72 regular-season games on TNT and TBS, which would simulcast on HBO Max.

How it compares to the previous deal:

NBC’s 10-year agreement with the NHL, which was worth $2 billion total, expired in 2021. The new deals with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, when combined, more than double that.

What you need to know:

Some NHL teams, including the Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars, launched streaming platforms to air games that aren’t nationally televised amid Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy (it has since emerged from bankruptcy and rebranded as Main Street Sports Group).

What the experts say:

“A lot of NHL, NBA and MLB teams are at a pivotal time right now in terms of local rights distribution,” Scott Robson, senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told The Current. “The RSNs [regional sports networks] have provided a steady stream of income to the teams for the past few decades and that’s being challenged.”

Where the rights stand:

F1 announced on Oct. 17 a five-year partnership with Apple TV starting in 2026 in the U.S. Apple is paying $140 million per year, according to CNBC.

As for NASCAR, new seven-year rights agreements began in 2025 with Prime Video, Fox, NBC and TNT.

How it compares to the previous deal:

F1’s former partner ESPN was reportedly paying $85 million per year for broadcast rights, meaning F1 got a substantial increase from Apple. NASCAR’s new deal equates to $1.1 billion, up from its previous $820 million deal.

What you need to know:

F1 has surged in popularity in the U.S. in recent years, reflected by the Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive and by the appropriately titled movie F1: The Movie. The latter earned over $600 million in worldwide ticket sales after coming to theaters in June 2025, including about $190 million in the U.S.

What the experts say:

“We’re seeing major tentpole events — like the F1 Grand Prix and UEFA Champions League final — continue to perform well on linear TV, especially when supported by cross-platform promotion,” Nicky Delasalle, vice president of growth at DirectAvenue, told The Current. “But it’s the flexibility of streaming that’s expanding reach and deepening engagement.”

Where the rights stand:

All MLS matches stream live on Apple TV as part of a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal that began in 2023. (Some simulcasts also air on the Fox Sports network as part of a separate agreement that ends in 2026.) The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) struck a $240 million, four-year deal with ESPN, CBS, Scripps Sports and Amazon Prime Video in 2023; all ESPN matches are available on ESPN+, and CBS matches also stream on Paramount+.

For the current MLS playoff season, Apple has made matches available to all Apple TV subscribers, even those without an MLS Season Pass add-on.

How it compares to previous deals:

The most recent MLS broadcast deals are the first time that ESPN isn’t airing any games in the league’s history. Prior to the Apple agreement, ESPN and Fox were paying a combined $75 million a year; Apple is now paying $250 million annually.

As for the NWSL, the new deal is an enormous increase over the $4.5 million agreement the league previously had with CBS.

What you need to know:

Soccer has grown in popularity in the U.S. in recent years, especially England’s Premier League, which airs on NBC and Peacock, and is seeing record viewership in the U.S. Further, the women’s soccer match during the 2024 Summer Olympics, in which the U.S. team beat Brazil, was the most-watched gold medal Olympic soccer match in 20 years. The rise in popularity surely has a lot to do with streaming, and it will culminate with the FIFA World Cup coming to the U.S. in 2026, along with Canada and Mexico.

What the experts say:

“The World Cup’s going to be incredible, but it’s going to come and go,” Jesse Perl, then-MLS vice president of brand marketing, previously told The Current Podcast, regarding the importance of capitalizing on World Cup fever after the event.

“There’s going be a lot of people here [in the U.S.] that aren’t going to be able to make it to World Cup games that maybe wanted to or maybe wanted to take their kids to it, or [they] got priced out, or there’s only so many seats in so many games,” Perl said. “And for MLS to really make sure everybody knows where they can find us [and] how they can find us, again, I think to meet that moment is going to be the big unlock for us.”

Illustrations by Nick DeSantis / Getty / Shutterstock / The Current