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Trump Announces DC Will Host the 2027 NFL Draft Roger Goodell, Commissioner, National Football League NFL listens to United States President Donald J Trump announce DC will host the 2027 NFL draft in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC USA, 05 May 2025. The move comes after the Washington Commanders announced they planned to return to DC in a new stadium built on the site of Robert F Kennedy Stadium.. Credit: Jim LoScalzo / Pool via CNP/AdMedia Washington District of Columbia United States of America EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUKxAUS Copyright: xx JJL21646-5370474 CNP/AdMediax admphotostwo930275
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Trump Announces DC Will Host the 2027 NFL Draft Roger Goodell, Commissioner, National Football League NFL listens to United States President Donald J Trump announce DC will host the 2027 NFL draft in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC USA, 05 May 2025. The move comes after the Washington Commanders announced they planned to return to DC in a new stadium built on the site of Robert F Kennedy Stadium.. Credit: Jim LoScalzo / Pool via CNP/AdMedia Washington District of Columbia United States of America EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUKxAUS Copyright: xx JJL21646-5370474 CNP/AdMediax admphotostwo930275
Almost a couple of years back, the NBA secured a massive media rights deal with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon Prime Video, bringing in $76 billion over 11 years starting with the 2025-26 season. That deal represented over a 160% increase from the previous deal. But on the other hand, it likely set the stage for Roger Goodell to start thinking about the NFL’s next big media rights package.
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The NFL has opt-out clauses with most of its partners after the 2029 season. But this is the NFL, and media companies depend on it to stay relevant. That’s why Goodell is expected to begin negotiations sooner rather than later, possibly even before the 2026 season. Which naturally raises the question: what could the next deal look like?
Matthew Belloni of Puck recently explored that angle and projected the league could land a deal worth around $16 billion annually, around $6 billion higher than the existing deal. If that happens, it would represent a roughly 58% jump from current numbers.
“And right on cue, MoffettNathanson is out with a new report predicting the average annual value of NFL rights deals will rise to $15.9 billion after renegotiations—including the carve-outs of additional smaller packages, likely to sell to Netflix or YouTube,” Belloni wrote. “That’s 58 percent higher than the current deals, and here’s the key line.”
Right now, the league’s media ecosystem includes ESPN, FOX, CBS, NBC, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. Combined, those deals currently bring in just over $10 billion annually.
Breaking it down, FOX pays about $2.2 billion, CBS $2.1 billion, NBC $2 billion, and Amazon $1 billion for Thursday Night Football, along with Netflix’s Christmas Day package and additional agreements like Sunday Ticket and select games tied to YouTube.
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NFL, American Football Herren, USA NFC Wild Card Round-Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams Jan 13, 2025 Glendale, AZ, USA NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before the NFC wild card game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings at State Farm Stadium. Glendale State Farm Stadium AZ USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMarkxJ.xRebilasx 20250113_mcd_su5_11
Given the NFL’s dominance in viewership, it’s not hard to see why the league would expect even higher bids next time around. Goodell has already hinted at that direction. While expanding reach remains a priority, maximizing value is just as important. Speaking to Front Office Reports, he said:
“What we focus on is ‘How do we reach the broadest number of people, on every broadcast? How do we make an event out of that?’ We select our partners in part for that reason. Economics are obviously part of that, the value that’s created. But at the end of the day, we want partners who are going to broaden our audience.”
So even with the current deal still in place, the groundwork for the next one is already in place. With the NBA resetting the market and the NFL still sitting at the top of the sports media ecosystem, Goodell appears to be in a position to push that number toward the $16 billion range in the next cycle.
Roger Goodell has already set the timeline for the new media rights deal
Following the 2025 season, data showed that the NFL recorded its best viewership since 1989. That makes Roger Goodell’s push to accelerate the next media rights deal easier to understand, even with the current agreements still having some time left.
That naturally leads to the next question: when does he want this done? Reports suggest the league is targeting September 2026 to finalize all agreements. In other words, the goal is to have the new media rights structure in place before the 2026 season kicks off with the reigning Super Bowl champions on September 9.
From the league’s perspective, that timeline aligns with momentum. But on the other side, it could have implications for fans. During the 2025 season, the cost per viewer hour for NFL games was around $1.20, with an average of 18.7 million viewers per game.
Now factor in the NBA’s recent deal and projections of the NFL pushing toward a $16 billion package. If that materializes, the economics are straightforward. NFL games currently air on 10 platforms. If a user wants to watch the entire season, it might cost them hundreds of dollars to enjoy their favorite sport.
On top of that, we also have to factor in the league’s push to expand the regular season to 18 games and the international series from 10 to 16 games. In simple terms, higher rights fees typically translate into higher costs downstream. That means fans may end up paying more to follow the full NFL season across platforms.
