It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon. You grab your snacks, flip on the TV, and click over to CBS to catch the prime time kickoff. It’s Sept. 5, Chargers vs Chiefs. But something’s wrong. The game doesn’t load. The screen stays blank. The network is suddenly dark. For AFC fans, this sounds like a horror situation. It sounds impossible, but it could become very real. With the long-delayed Skydance-Paramount merger now back on, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell may have to “look at its options.” The league’s broadcast future, once stable, is going through a metamorphosis stage (once again).

The NFL’s relationship with CBS has gone through shifts before. From 1994 to 1997, CBS lost the NFC package to Fox and took the AFC slate from NBC. Since 1998, CBS has held onto the AFC-heavy Sunday afternoon package. That deal remains intact through 2033. However, the league holds the power to end all current contracts after the 2029 season. There is a growing belief that the NFL will use that opt-out.

With the NBA securing massive rights fees in recent negotiations, many expect the NFL to follow suit. By pulling the plug early, the league could renegotiate for more value. On Monday, John Ourand of Puck reported the league “could” even extend all current deals beyond 2029 in exchange for terms that stretch through 2034 or 2035. Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed this situation on CNBC.

“We’ve had a long relationship with CBS for decades,” Goodell said. “We also have a relationship outside of that with Skydance. So I don’t anticipate that that’s something that we’ll see. We have a two-year period to make that decision. I don’t see that happening, but we have that option, and that’s something we’ll take a look at.” 

Goodell pointed toward the evolving media landscape and the potential lurking in the new age platforms. “I think you see a lot of these new platforms, different demographics that are really important for us to be able to reach, and it’s part of our growth strategy.” That lines up with the NFL’s growing ties to Netflix and YouTube. Both platforms hosted one-off games last season.

But the commissioner wasn’t exactly out there waving a flag for a revolution. The host asked, “When you think about all the different streamers where people can now watch the NFL, Amazon, not just YouTube, Amazon, Peacock, now Netflix or the Christmas Day games, do you need to offer your viewers, your fans, an easier way to navigate to figure out what’s gonna be on where and is that a challenge for you as you continue to lean into these streaming platforms?” The commissioner’s first two words were significant: “Not really.” He elaborated, “Because I think our games are pretty consistently in windows. You know, I think our fans know that there’s going to be a Thursday night game, Friday night’s a special game, but we want that to be a special game.”

This comes right after CBS began experiencing a shift in its executive leadership. Wendy McMahon, who served as President and CEO of CBS News and Stations, has recently stepped down. In the interim, Tom Cibrowski and Jennifer Mitchell have been appointed to handle her duties. But are the whispers just a spooked reaction to leadership change? We don’t think so.

The NFL is shifting how it delivers games. If the league opens its rights for bidding, more digital giants may enter. For now, the best move for networks like CBS might be to re-up early, before the competition expands.

Roger Goodell breaking up with the cable?

The league is embracing the cord-cutting era and focusing more on streaming platforms than traditional TV. “Over the last five years, we started the migration to streaming. Our fans want this option, and the league understands that streaming is the future,” said Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots and chairman of the NFL’s media committee. With that clear message, the league is now revisiting its stance on existing media rights deals. The reason?

COVID-19 forced the NFL off script. Spring practices, OTAs, and preseason games were disrupted. Despite these hurdles, the league stayed the course and completed its full 256-game schedule in 17 weeks. But that came at a heavy cost. With empty stadiums, the NFL saw major losses in ticket sales. That season proved something important. Even without fans in seats, the league’s broadcast value was sky-high.

The very next year, the league cashed in. “The N.F.L. signed new media rights agreements with CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN and Amazon collectively worth about $110 billion over 11 years, nearly doubling the value of its previous contracts,” The New York Times reported. Those deals kicked in for the 2023 season. Now, Roger Goodell may consider opting out in 2029. The size of the deals was no accident.

In 2021, the NFL made another bold move. To recoup losses from the COVID-hit season, the league added a week. The regular season expanded from 17 to 18 weeks. The schedule jumped from 256 games to 272. Fans loved the extra action. Networks loved the extra revenue. More games meant more air time and bigger paychecks. That helped push the media rights to $110 billion. If deals are renegotiated, the next number could be even higher. And this time around, it might be a landmark change in league history.