NBCUniversal will double the amount of money it pays to the NFL to keep “Sunday Night Football.” But Comcast Chair & CEO Brian Roberts warned that the company is prepared to walk away from other sports rights that it currently carries, a comment that should send shudders through NHL offices.
NBC’s deal with the NHL ends after this season, and its Premier League deal ends in 2022. Last year, NBC signed a PGA Tour deal that is worth around 70% more than the previous deal.
“We're very excited about, hopefully, our relationship continuing with the NFL, that's a big priority,” Roberts said during a Morgan Stanley conference today on technology, media and telecom. “But there will be, therefore, tough decisions where we have relationships that maybe won't be continued. And that will be someone else's good fortune perhaps. But we're going to be disciplined in trying to find a balance.”
A key for Roberts is to cut deals that include Peacock. “We're looking at every sports relationship we're doing to have a streaming aspect to it, not just a linear television aspect.” Roberts mentioned the EPL, WWE and the Olympics as properties that have embraced both streaming and linear platforms. “We're really high on what can happen with sports,” Roberts said. “There's nothing like sports. And if you look in the U.S. with the Olympics and the NFL and in U.K. with the Premier League, we're a very relevant company. But we're going to have to make some choices, and there will be choices we make with shareholders in mind and long-term value as well.”
Roberts was optimistic about the Olympics occurring as planned in Tokyo this summer, especially given Comcast’s role as “the company to bring to the U.S. the emotion of the world coming back together,” he said. The Tokyo Games would be followed by a Super Bowl and the Beijing Olympics. “We’re a company that’s set up to have big events,” Roberts said. “We don’t have to have all events. We want to make those events meaningful in people’s lives, so they really understand our company.”
