LAST WEEK, THE National Football League unveiled massive new broadcasting and streaming rights deals which will bring in over US$100 billion to the league between 2023 and 2033.
Those deals, however, are confined to the U.S. – even the exclusive streaming deal the NFL signed with Amazon.
Cartt.ca checked with Bell Media and while a spokesperson wouldn’t say when its own rights deal with the league comes due (but it likely expires after the 2022 season, like the American contracts), he did confirm the American announcement is separate from the NFL’s dealing with Bell. “Bell Media is proud to be the exclusive television broadcast partner of the NFL in Canada. There is no correlation between our agreement with the league and the NFL’s media rights agreements in the United States,” said Bell’s Rob Duffy.
We also contacted an Amazon Canada spokesperson who confirmed the portion of the NFL deal which gives the retailer/streamer exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football beginning in 2023 does not apply to the Canadian marketplace. “This is U.S. only,” their spokesperson said in an email.
That said, the increase in total rights fees paid to the league by the broadcasters is in the 70%-to-80% range, so a bigger bill looks to be coming as long as Bell wants to continue to be the home of the NFL in Canada.
Plus, streamer DAZN owns a suite of NFL rights in Canada, too, primarily what was the old “Sunday Ticket” rights, and will be a player going forward.
