NBC Sports renewed its deal for the EPL’s U.S. media rights in a precedent-setting six-year deal, beating out competing bids from Fox Sports and beIN Sports. The EPL to date has limited its deals to three years, but in this round of bidding it opted for NBC’s six-year offer. NBC’s deal, which includes Spanish-language rights for Telemundo and NBC Universo, ensures that the net will keep EPL rights through the '21-22 season across NBC, NBCSN, USA Network and NBC Sports Live Extra. "It gives us nine months of weekend morning and early afternoon programming that has become synonymous with NBC Sports and built what we believe is a real destination for a growing fan base in the U.S.,” NBC Sports Chair Mark Lazarus said on a conference call yesterday. Bids were submitted last Thursday, with the EPL telling bidders that they would not accept any joint bids, meaning that ESPN and Fox would not be allowed to submit a combined bid as they did three years ago. ESPN did not submit a bid for the rights, citing too many conflicts with its fall college football programming. Sources say that Univision also did not submit a formal bid. Fox and beIN were the only other nets to submit bids -- both submitting three- and six-year bids.
FINISHING MOVE: The EPL told the nets that it would not hold a second round of bids if the top bid was at least 15% higher than the next one, which means that NBC’s bid likely is north of $800M, possibly closer to $1B, as there was no second round of bidding. Neither NBC nor the EPL would disclose financials. Lazarus said, “When we made our bid three years ago, we said to (EPL CEO Richard Scudamore), ‘If we’re successful, we know we’re going to have to pay more money to retain these rights.' That has happened.” Because EPL required a broadcast TV commitment, beIN Sports' bid included a caveat that it would sublicense rights. As far as the negotiating window, Lazarus said NBC “worked through the weekend to try to secure the deal.” Lazarus: “We took nothing for granted, but I spent a very anxious Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday until dialogue became clear that we were going to have the ability to negotiate to conclusion" (Ourand & Frankel, Staff Writers).
DOUBLE DOWN: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes the new rights fee "basically doubles the annual cost" of NBC’s current, three-year $250M contract, but its "willingness to do so was an acknowledgment of how the globally popular league has come to redefine ... NBCSN, and also of the value NBC sees in Americans’ growing appetite for top-shelf European soccer." Lazarus: "You do the math. That’s 2,280 matches over the next six years, plus hours of other related content -- shoulder programming, original content, library programming -- which we have used extensively and will continue to use." NBC’s winning bid "suggests that it believes it has tapped into a growing, youthful, family-heavy fan base." Lazarus said, "We think that there’s still plenty of headroom for this property to grow from an audience point of view, both on television and digital." Scudamore said of NBC, "They’ve thrown their creativity, their people and their whole essence into it." Lazarus conceded that the EPL "had not earned a profit through advertising during its current deal and would not in the next, more expensive one." He added, however, "This isn’t a deal that’s profitable, but we believe it adds to the profitability of our business" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/11). In Connecticut, Alexander Soule notes the bidding process "was a major point of uncertainty for NBC Sports." Lazarus said, "I had every confidence that if we were in the ballpark, we were going to have an opportunity" (STAMFORD ADVOCATE, 8/11).
GROWING THE GAME: Scudamore said the league was “thrilled to be extending " with NBC Sports. NBCSN’s Rebecca Lowe asked Scudamore about his observations on soccer in the U.S. over recent years. Scudamore: “Football has been a huge sport in the U.S. for some time. But our particular brand of football, if you'd like, hasn’t necessarily caught on. There's been interest, but the incredible thing in the last two years with what NBC have managed to do in terms of marketing, promoting and bringing all the games to the TV audience in the U.S. We've just seen it take off, and now, instead of being a minority conversation, it really is mainstream” (“Premier League Live,” NBCSN, 8/10).
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Perlberg & Futterman note the EPL "recently sold its U.K. rights" for $7.8B for three seasons, up from $4.7B for the period of '13-16 (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/11). AD AGE's Anthony Crupi noted 10-figure deals "are nothing new to NBC," which in '11 committed $2B for a decade-long pact with the NHL and last year paid $7.65B for Olympic rights through '32. As far as calculated risks go, "this looks like a winner." After "years of taking a loss on the Olympics, NBC broke even" on the '12 London Games and "made a tidy profit" on the '14 Sochi Games. Meanwhile, with EPL rights "locked in for the near term, the pickings are slim for TV outlets looking to bulk up on top-tier sports content." With the exception of Big Ten rights, which are currently held by ESPN and Fox and are set to expire in '17, there "are no premium packages up for grabs." If there is "any downside to NBC's doubling down on the EPL, it's that soccer by its very nature is more difficult to monetize than other top-tier sports" (ADAGE.com, 8/10).
JOB WELL DONE: SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote for those who "consider social media a reliable measure of sentiment," NBC’s EPL coverage "is unique among sports rights properties." It gets "equal respect from viewers, sports media reporters and writers, and well, pretty much everyone who follows the sport." That is why yesterday there was "an outpouring of excitement on Twitter and Facebook" when the new agreement was announced (SI.com, 8/10). MULTICHANNEL NEWS' Kent Gibbons wrote NBC "has been a proper steward of the league, both in terms of marketing zeal ... and on-air commitment" (MULTICHANNEL.com, 8/10). In Seattle, Matt Pentz writes one lesson MLS "can take from NBC Sports’ EPL broadcasts is that these things have to grow organically -- gimmicks will only get you so far." Though it "feels second nature now, soccer coverage in the U.S. isn’t that far removed from the days when Fox trotted out Michael Strahan to filter rules through an American football lens" prior to the '11 UEFA Champions League final. NBC's EPL play-by-play announcer Arlo White said, "I think the audience is so sophisticated that they don’t need spoonfeeding at all. I think they would turn against that. I might throw in the odd ‘locker room’ here and there. But otherwise, I really don’t try to Americanize these things at all" (SEATTLE TIMES, 8/11).
