The positive news for the NFL is that its TV deals give it time to figure things out. ESPN’s contract runs through 2021, while CBS, Fox, and NBC are on the hook through 2022. CBS and NBC also have a deal to split the broadcast rights for Thursday Night Football, which expires in 2017. So the short-term pain isn’t the NFL’s problem, it’s the networks’. They’re already giving away commercial time to advertisers to make up for the shortfall in guaranteed viewers. If ratings stay down, the networks could be forced to lower NFL ad rates in years to come.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-03/nfl-was-a-sure-thing-for-tv-networks-until-now
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