The league is eyeing more digital deals, in part because digital can often reach younger audiencesGETTY IMAGES
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the league's next round of media-rights deals and stressed the NFL still has "two or three more years on our current media contracts." Goodell: "We want to sit down, we want to talk about how we can continue to evolve our media relationships. We have nothing but the best partners in the business (and) we're proud of that. But we also want to try to reach new platforms." He continued, "So, I see this negotiation as working with our current partners to continue that relationship as well as bringing new partners in. ... Whether that happens in the next few months or the next two years, that's not as important to us as getting it right." Goodell said adding more digital deals "will be a big play," as digital really has "two advantages." Goodell: "The first is, many times there’s an interactive element to that that we can’t replicate on a standard network feed or linear feed. ... In addition, we all know that these new platforms are reaching different fans, particularly younger fans." Goodell also noted while the league is "out two years" before NFL Sunday Ticket rights are available, it is "already getting interest from others." Goodell: "We’ve had a lot of our partners and potential partners who want to come in and would love to have a piece of Sunday Ticket. It’s right now available on linear. We have discussed with AT&T and we've discussed with others about the idea of expanding that to digital" (“Squawk on the Street,” CNBC, 9/2).
