NFL | Web rights deal likely to pass $300 million

NFL | Web rights deal likely to pass $300 million
Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:29:47 -0800
Eric Benderoff, of the Chicago Tribune, reports the NFL (http://www.kffl.com/team/77/nfl)'s internet rights agreement expires in May. A new deal will likely be worth more than the five-year $300 million contract signed with several partners in 2001. NFL (http://www.kffl.com/team/77/nfl) Spokesman Brian McCarthy said they are talking to a number of companies which include Apple Computer Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp., and Yahoo Inc.



could they stop making money if they wanted to? It's like they're running their own mint.

maybe it's because i've had a few but I have no idea what this subject is about... So please inform me of what this means.

Basicly it is like the TV contract that the NFL has, but for the internet...

maybe it's because i've had a few but I have no idea what this subject is about... So please inform me of what this means.

i think it deals with all the stats and players profiles you see on foxsportsnet and yahoo are covered as part of these deals... and yahoo's fantasy football stuff etc...

the new deal could include the rights to re-broadcast game a couple days after the fact for money (like itunes does with lost) etc... i think google does that with basketball games as well.

here's the link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-0603290237mar29,1,1531487.story

need to be registered though :( and you have to confirm the email address and they WILL send you ads. Its retarded, so i confirmed and immediately listed their domain as a spammer in my filters.

NFL calls signals for Internet play
Web rights deal likely to pass $300 million

By Eric Benderoff
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 29, 2006

The nation's most popular sports league wants to see how much money its powerful brand is worth in cyberspace.

Already the pacesetter in generating huge dollars for broadcast rights to its games on television, the National Football League is in negotiations for what could be the largest contract ever awarded for exclusive Internet and digital content.

The league's Internet rights agreement expires in May, and a new deal likely will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars more than the five-year, $300 million accord the league signed with several partners in 2001.

The NFL is considering the new deal "a clean slate," said Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman. "We are talking to a number of companies."

Those include technology giants Apple Computer Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp., Yahoo Inc.and possibly others not considered media players in 2001.

"It's wide open," McCarthy said. "We haven't made any decisions yet."

The NFL also could take some elements of its online content in-house, he added.

The mad scramble for the league's online rights is the latest example of the growing power of the Internet and the potential bonanza for providers of programming like the NFL. The auction for the online rights also is one of the biggest financial tests yet as to just how valuable content will become on the Web.

That leaves viewers as the biggest beneficiaries. With content straddling two worlds--TV and Internet--viewers have more choices than ever at their fingertips.

The expiring Internet contract comes at an opportune time for the NFL. Nearly 70 percent of U.S. Internet users access the Web with a high-speed connection, according to a March study by Nielsen/NetRatings. Those broadband rates encouraged CBS to offer live Internet streams for the NCAA men's basketball tournament this month. More than 5 million people watched the games online for free.

The NFL's current Internet contract is largely with CBS Corp.'s CBS SportsLine.com, which manages the NFL.com site, and, to a lesser degree, Time Warner's AOL unit. A SportsLine spokesman would say only that the NFL negotiations are at a tender stage. An AOL spokesman would not comment on the talks, or even say if the company was bidding on the new contract.

When it was announced in 2001, the NFL deal was the richest Internet sports deal in history. It flattened the NFL's first Internet deal, a three-year contract with ESPN valued at only $10 million.

The league's NFL.com site, when combined with the affiliated sites of teams such as the Chicago Bears, is consistently in the top five of all sports sites, according to data from ComScore Networks.

During the season, usage of NFL Internet properties escalates significantly. In September, for example, as the 2005 season kicked off, the NFL site and affiliated team sites collectively ranked second, behind ESPN.com and ahead of heavyweights Yahoo, AOL and Fox Sports.

McCarthy said the NFL is looking at other options to manage its site and is considering selling certain rights to rebroadcast games.

One model could be a similar deal CBS announced with Apple days before the NCAA men's tournament launched. Apple, through its iTunes site, is selling commercial-free, condensed versions of the games the day after they are broadcast on TV.

McCarthy said there "could be something with Apple" to resell games on iTunes after they are played. Likewise, Google is selling National Basketball League games on its site shortly after they are played.

Apple would not comment about the NFL talks. A Google spokesman said the company is "continually exploring opportunities to expand our partnerships in the video arena, but we have nothing to announce."

McCarthy, however, cautioned that the NFL is very conscious of not alienating its TV broadcast partners, so any talks about reselling games are likely to be sensitive.

Television partners include ESPN, CBS, NBC and Fox, who, under new agreements reached over the last 6 months, collectively will pay the NFL about $4 billion a season.

"The cornerstone of the NFL's philosophy is free, over-the-air TV broadcasts," McCarthy said. "That helps to generate the massive TV deals."

Also, satellite provider DirecTV pays $700 million annually for its exclusive Sunday package of games.

Hence, it is unlikely the NFL will follow the NCAA and Major League Baseball by offering its games as live video streams.

Jonathan Taplin, a former Merrill Lynch executive and now a professor at the University of Southern California, thinks that is a big mistake.

"Why not put the games online?" he asked. The popularity "would be through the roof. They could sell NFL product and gear. They can offer it worldwide on NFL.com, so if you're in Singapore, you can watch a live game.

"The biggest opportunity is for the NFL to collect a tremendous amount of data and charge for subscriptions and advertising," he added. "The advertising on interactive platforms, where the advertiser knows who is watching, is much more powerful than on TV."

Other issues on the table include highlight packages and original video content, the deep statistics and data the NFL collects each game and fantasy football rights, McCarthy said.

The fantasy aspect is intriguing, said Jeff Marshall, senior vice president and managing director for Chicago digital media agency Starcom IP. It is "possibly an angle that hasn't been fully ferreted out yet," he said.

"Once you get past TV sports advertising, fantasy sports is one of the highest-generating revenue aspects of sports," Marshall said.

According to a survey released in March by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, more than $3 billion is spent annually by players in fantasy leagues. Those figures don't include revenue generated by advertisers trying to attract those players.

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ebenderoff@tribune.com

if the deal does go thru,who ends up with the 300 million?do they split it evenly among the teams?

if the deal does go thru,who ends up with the 300 million?do they split it evenly among the teams?

yeah, like TV contracts. its going to be much more than 300mill though. the first internet deal they did with espn was 3 years for 10$million... after that expired they got a 5year 300$million deal done between aol, foxsports, cbs sportline, yahoo, espn, etc.

now if they dangle condensed game downloads and general growth in interest and marketshare, they might be looking to at least double that deal to account for future growth and ad/fantasy revenues such packages may generate.

I bet Apple gets its, and makes it so you can download games off of ITunes