NFL Renews TV Deals through 2022 Season

NEW YORK: The NFL has renewed its broadcast deals with CBS, FOX and NBC through the 2022 season, with the networks reportedly paying a total of nearly $28 billion in fees over the next nine years under the new contracts.

The figure breaks down to an average of $3.1 billion a year, a 63-percent increase over the $1.9 billion paid annually by CBS, NBC and FOX for NFL rights under their current contracts. CBS, FOX and NBC will each televise three Super Bowls during the length of the contracts, continuing the current rotation. The deals will also expand the number of Thursday night games on NFL Network, but the league has not determined how many additional contests will be aired. The current package includes eight games during the second half of the season. Earlier this season, the NFL and ESPN reached an eight-year extension to keep Monday Night Football on the cable channel through the 2021 season. CBS will continue to show the AFC package on Sunday afternoons as it has since 1998, while FOX still has the NFC package that it first acquired in 1994. Sunday Night Football will remain on NBC. The network will add the annual Thanksgiving prime-time game starting in 2012 and will exchange one of its current wild card matchups for a divisional playoff game.

"These agreements underscore the NFL’s unique commitment to broadcast television that no other sport has," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "The agreements would not have been possible without our new 10-year labor agreement and the players deserve great credit. Long-term labor peace is allowing the NFL to continue to grow, and the biggest beneficiaries are the players and fans."