Those who think that football (cough, cough…soccer) is a negligible sport in the US should take a look at the numbers of the proposed deal between Comcast Corp's NBC (the current owner of Premier League rights) and ViacomCBS (VIAC) and Disney (DIS). The rights to broadcast the Premier League from 2022 to 2028 are worth nearly $2b, and the price could rise even more with a second round of bidding scheduled for the end of this week. If the deal is confirmed, it will become the most lucrative overseas operation for the English soccer league.
Under the new deal, the Premier League will sell all 38 games of the season in a single package instead of the current separate package model. This will make life much easier for soccer aficionados in the US, who won't have to purchase multiple packages to follow their favorite team.
Why it matters
This isn't Disney's only attempt to expand into the world of sports in the US. The Mickey Mouse company is seriously thinking of investing in the multi-billion dollar business of sports betting. An idea could be that of utilizing ESPN (which Disney owns) to merge with an existing sportsbook operator before listing the new entity on the stock market.
