NBC Sports acquires Premier League rights in 6-year deal

UPDATED: NBC Sports has acquired the TV rights to the Premier League for the 2016/17 to 2021/22 seasons, a source has confirmed to World Soccer Talk.

FOX Sports was understood to have put in a major bid to acquire the Premier League TV rights deal for 2016/17 season onwards, but a second round of bidding helped NBC Sports win the rights to the Premier League in a record-breaking deal.

NBC Sports currently holds the Premier League rights in the United States until the end of the 2015/16 season, but after bids were submitted by NBC and the alliance on Thursday, the bid by FOX was expected to be announced as the winner as early as this week. However, NBC’s second bid tipped the scales in their favor.

The amount of the winning bid has not been disclosed, but it’s expected to be a gigantic increase from the $240 million that NBC Sports paid for the 2013-16 rights.

The winning bid by NBC Sports is a huge coup for the network considering the sizable bid entered in by the alliance between FOX Sports, ESPN, Univision and (as reported) Discovery Communications.

As of yesterday, it appeared very likely that the bid from FOX Sports was enough to win the deal, but hopes were dashed today when NBC Sports received confirmation from the Premier League that its second bid was enough to win the rights.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore, in an interview on NBCSN this afternoon, said, “It’s been a fantastic couple of years already [with NBC], and now we can look forward to 7 more.”