In China, for example, it started with a CCTV deal in the late 1980s, and now the league boasts more than 800 million fans in that country. The NBA spent decades pouring money and resources into growing the league’s commercial presence in far off places. There isn’t much about the business of other leagues that makes NFL owners jealous, but the NBA’s overseas runway is one of them. “And we’re still looking for all of those things.” “We think we need more content, more digital expertise and more distribution,” Rolapp said. League executives discussed strategic investments with nearly all of the streaming companies that held talks to buy Sunday Ticket, including Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), according to multiple people familiar with the talks. Those assets are valuable to the league, but the changing economics, particularly for cable networks, have pushed the NFL to reevaluate their future. The NFL is currently seeking a strategic partner to invest in the league-owned media portfolio, which includes NFL+, NFL.com and NFL Network. So how do we engage those fans year-round and give them the products that they want?” “Today it’s much more about a 365-day relationship. “The fan experience 15 years ago was largely centered solely around the game day experience-Was it safe? How was the parking? How was the play on the field?” Cleveland Browns COO David Jenkins said in an interview. To accelerate those possibilities, the NFL recently invested in a joint venture alongside Skydance Sports, whose parent company is behind blockbuster movies such as Top Gun: Maverick, and the upcoming Mission: Impossible film.
The league has also begun to dabble in the sale of low-latency feeds, a valuable commodity for sportsbooks across the globe. Last year the NFL launched NFL+, a streaming service that offered limited live games on mobile. Leagues of all sizes are working to meet that demand.
#DABBLE RULE 34 TV#
The NFL has been instrumental in supporting the legacy TV model, but fans are increasingly opting for digital offerings. According to Rolapp, that starts with direct-to-consumer efforts. While the big broadcast deals are done, the league is still exploring other media opportunities, both domestic and abroad. So where, specifically, is the NFL focusing its resources? Sportico spoke with league executives and team personnel to discuss the next tier of priorities.
“When you are as visible and as big a business as the NFL, there is always more to do,” said longtime NFL consultant Marc Ganis. The league is at roughly $19 billion right now, and while escalators in the media deals will help, there’s more needed to reach that target. The most recent team to sell, the Denver Broncos, were bought by the country’s 10th richest person for $4.6 billion, the most anyone’s ever paid for a sports team.Ĭommissioner Roger Goodell has long held a target of $25 billion in revenue by 2027. The NFL accounted for 82 of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in America last year, a number that’s increasing. In addition to the media deals, league-wide sponsorship is at record levels, and in-game attendance this season was higher than it has been in 18 of the past 19 years. So there’s very much a healthy paranoia here, to not squander that advantage.” “Every sport will have to deal with that, and we have the luxury of dealing with it from a position of strength, which many people aren’t afforded. “Whether that’s changes in the media landscape, changes in how people spend their time, acceleration of technology, geopolitics, the economy, everything is under this state of change,” said Rolapp, who expects the next 10 years to alter the NFL’s business more than any prior decade. For Rolapp, however, the first order of business on this Friday was to get started on what’s next. With the two central pillars of the league’s commercial success wrapped up through at least 2030-those negotiations came on the heels of a new 10-year labor accord signed in 2020-Christmas came a few days early for the world’s richest sports league.
0 kommentar(er)
