The NBC NHL deal doesn’t expire until 2021. And NHL fans are still pissed about the Fox Glow Puck. Fox MIGHT be able to shunt some NFL games over from broadcast, but I doubt they can afford a second contract, and everybody already pays through the nose for the NFL. The cheapest current contract is the SNF contract at a “mere” $950 million a year, ESPN is paying almost $2 billion. Oh and those contracts are also all good until 2021. NBA contracts come up for renewal in 2016 though, that could be a vulnerability, but they’d probably just wind up taking TNT’s contract, nobody outbids The Mouse.
They pay more for the NFL TV broadcast rights than these teams are all worth
Good points, I didn’t realize the NHL and NFL contracts were that far out. Games from broadcast would be a good idea in principle, maybe Saturday or Friday night football? But I doubt that would fly with the NFL or fans. The NBA contract is their best bet, but FOX would have to get around Disney and that’s going to be brutal because you better believe they want to block Fox from sinking ESPN. But, just like sports there’s always the “any given Sunday rule,” Disney would be hard to outbid, but it may be possible.