NFL Poised to Command Record Broadcast Fees, Fueled by UFC’s $7.7 Billion Paramount Shift and Evolving Media Landscape

The National Football League, long established as the premier ratings driver across American sports, is preparing to aggressively pursue significantly increased broadcast rights fees, a strategy influenced by recent landmark deals secured by both the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Despite being in the relatively early stages of its current media rights agreement, which extends into the early 2030s and is valued at more than $110 billion, league executives are closely monitoring the shifting sports media landscape and the escalating valuations of live content.

The NFL’s current expansive broadcast portfolio includes agreements with traditional giants like CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN, alongside newer digital powerhouses such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. These partners collectively pay substantial sums to air a full calendar of regular season, playoff, and Super Bowl matchups. With the league projecting its annual revenue to reach an unprecedented $25 billion by 2026, the impetus to revisit and expand upon these broadcast deals in the near future is becoming increasingly apparent.

A significant catalyst for the NFL’s re-evaluation arrived in late 2025 when the UFC finalized a massive seven-year, $7.7 billion agreement to transition its broadcast home from ESPN to Paramount. This monumental deal, which sees the vast majority of UFC events now exclusively available on Paramount+, represents a staggering increase, more than doubling the value of the promotion’s previous seven-year contract with ESPN. A key innovation of the Paramount deal was the complete overhaul of the traditional pay-per-view (PPV) model for UFC events. Under the new terms, all events are now included at no additional cost for Paramount+ subscribers, whose packages range from $8.99 to $13.99 per month. This strategic move aims to expand accessibility and subscriber growth, a model that has not gone unnoticed by other major sports leagues.

The ripple effects of this UFC-Paramount partnership, coupled with the NBA’s recently secured 11-year, $76 billion deal with multiple broadcast partners, have underscored to the NFL and its 32 franchise owners that the market value for elite live sports content is soaring. These benchmark agreements suggest that the NFL, with its unparalleled viewership and cultural footprint, is currently undervalued relative to the broader sports media rights market.

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"As we look around at the incredible viewership we had this year, and we look at this sports rights marketplace, we think the value of NFL rights have only increased," stated Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media distribution, in an interview with the New York Times. His comments reflect a growing confidence within the league’s leadership regarding its negotiating position.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has also been vocal about the league’s intent to expand its current rights deals. Speaking at a press conference leading up to Super Bowl LX, Goodell highlighted the dramatic evolution of the media landscape since the league inked its last major broadcast contracts in 2021. "We’ve all seen the media landscape is changing dramatically," Goodell observed. "New platforms that didn’t exist five years ago — 10 years ago, for sure — exist. That’s where our fans are in many cases, particularly the younger demographics." This acknowledgment signals a clear strategy to engage with a wider array of distribution partners, especially those catering to digital-native audiences. In 2021, platforms like Netflix were not yet streaming live sports, and YouTube’s involvement in major sports rights deals was minimal, illustrating the rapid transformation of the industry.

The competitive landscape for sports content was vividly illustrated during the UFC’s 2025 negotiation period. Prior to the Paramount agreement, the mixed martial arts promotion was reportedly in advanced discussions with Netflix. The streaming giant had expressed keen interest in acquiring the rights to the UFC’s 12 to 13 major "pay-per-view" events annually, leveraging its recent foray into boxing with high-profile bouts such as Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson and the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford card. These events demonstrated Netflix’s capacity and ambition to host significant live combat sports, underscoring the intense bidding environment for premium content.

Ultimately, Paramount’s decisive intervention at the eleventh hour secured the full UFC broadcast rights package, reportedly with an offer of $1.1 billion per year. While some industry critics initially questioned if Paramount was overpaying for the content, the subsequent performance quickly validated the investment. UFC 324, the inaugural event to air exclusively on Paramount+, drew nearly 5 million viewers, setting a new record for an exclusive live event broadcast on the network. This immediate success showcased the power of integrated streaming distribution and the appetite for combat sports when made easily accessible.

The NFL’s domestic viewership figures dwarf those of virtually every other sporting event in the United States, providing the league with significant leverage. This consistent dominance is a primary reason why the NFL meticulously analyzes the financial terms and strategic innovations of other major sports deals. During the 2025 season, the NFL averaged 18.7 million viewers per game, marking the largest audience for the league since 1989. This sustained growth in an increasingly fragmented media environment further strengthens the NFL’s position.

Among the current NFL broadcast partners, Paramount (through its CBS Sports division) is widely expected to be a key player in future negotiations. Given its recent success with the UFC and its long-standing relationship with the NFL, the network is anticipated to commit significant resources to retain its share of football programming. "As soon as they indicate they want to sit down and have a legit conversation about the future, we’ll be excited to sit down and have those conversations and figure out how we can further strengthen the partnership," David Berson, the president of CBS Sports, told the New York Times, signaling the network’s eagerness to maintain its association with the league.

While the UFC’s $7.7 billion deal, or even the NBA’s $76 billion agreement, do not individually approach the overall scale of the NFL’s current or projected media rights value, the percentage increases and innovative distribution models embedded within these contracts are crucial benchmarks. They directly influence market expectations for what other major sports properties, especially one as dominant as the NFL, can command. The abolition of the PPV model for UFC subscribers, for instance, could prompt the NFL to explore new, more direct-to-consumer or bundled offerings to maximize reach and revenue.

The confluence of these factors — the NFL’s consistent ratings supremacy, its ambitious revenue targets, the successful market-resetting deals by the UFC and NBA, and the continued proliferation of streaming platforms — creates an unprecedented environment for future negotiations. Industry analysts widely anticipate that the NFL is poised to reset the market for sports broadcasting rights, with fees likely to climb even higher, particularly if new deals are finalized before the commencement of the 2026 NFL season. The coming months are expected to feature intense discussions as the NFL seeks to solidify its financial future in an ever-evolving media landscape.

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