Folarin Balogun of the United States shoots during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 match between USA and Belgium in Seattle, Washington, July 6, 2026.
Mb Media | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
As the FIFA World Cup captures massive global audiences, media companies are preparing to pay billions for the rights to the next two men’s tournaments.
Netflix, Disney and Alphabet’s YouTube are all interested in challenging Fox for the U.S. broadcast rights to the 2030 and 2034 World Cup, according to people familiar with the matter.
Amazon, which currently owns UEFA Champions League rights in the U.K., and Apple, which owns global MLS rights, could also enter the mix, further fueling a potential bidding war for the rights.
Discussions between FIFA and potential media partners are expected to begin sometime in the next three months, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.
FIFA has alerted media companies during preliminary talks, which began earlier this year, that English- and Spanish-language U.S. rights are likely to be sold together, rather than separately as they have been for previous World Cups, including 2026, according to the people.
Fox paid $485 million for the English-language rights for this year’s tournament, hosted across North American cities, according to The Athletic. NBCUniversal’s Telemundo paid $600 million for the Spanish-language rights, according to people familiar with the matter.
Executives at various media companies are budgeting between $1.5 billion and $2 billion for the U.S. rights to each tournament across languages, said the people. The last time FIFA negotiated a deal, with Fox and Telemundo, was in 2011. Four years later, FIFA extended that deal through 2026.
Get the CNBC Sport newsletter directly to your inbox
The CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media, delivered weekly to your inbox.
Subscribe here to get access today.
FIFA won’t sell global rights to the tournament, because different countries have regulations that mandate the World Cup must be sold over the air. But U.S. rights will be coveted, with major viewership and advertising opportunities.
Netflix, Disney and YouTube all view the World Cup as a potential major boost for their streaming services, according to the people familiar.
Disney could also air games on ESPN and ABC, which could be appealing to FIFA as the broadcast on Fox has seen strong ratings this year. FIFA has already shown interest in Netflix by awarding it the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031.
Spokespeople for FIFA, Netflix, YouTube and Disney declined to comment.
Selling one package
Selling the English- and Spanish-language rights as a single package could help FIFA garner a higher price, driving up bids from eager media partners looking for big ratings. The combined TV audiences for U.S. games in recent weeks have rivaled NFL playoff games.
Packaging the language rights could also help eliminate some tensions between rival media companies airing the same games.
Though Telemundo bought only the Spanish-language rights through 2026, it has claimed some unknown population of English speakers watching games in the U.S. via the Peacock streaming service, dampening Fox’s World Cup reach.
Peacock charges just $10.99 per month, while Fox’s streaming service, Fox One, costs $19.99 per month.
Telemundo also signed actor Owen Wilson, who isn’t Latino or known for speaking Spanish, as a spokesperson for the Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup, blurring the lines for an American audience that speaks both English and Spanish.
If English- and Spanish-language games are sold together, NBCUniversal isn’t likely to compete for the rights at a price nearing $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. That would remove Telemundo as a future partner.
Comcast announced last month it intends to spin out NBCUniversal, putting more investor focus on its future finances. NBCU already pays billions per year for the NFL’s “Sunday Night Football” and NBA basketball. An NBC spokesperson declined to comment.
Leaving U.S. time zones
Both the 2030 and 2034 World Cup are in less appealing time zones for U.S. TV viewership than this year’s World Cup, which is taking place in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The 2030 World Cup will take place in Morocco, Portugal and Spain, where there is a five- or six-hour time difference with the U.S. Eastern time zone. The 2034 World Cup will be hosted by Saudi Arabia, where the time difference is even more dramatic.
Still, the outsized ratings for this year’s World Cup will likely drive the price significantly higher.
Last week’s U.S. victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina was the most-watched soccer telecast in English-language history, averaging more than 26 million viewers, according to Fox Sports.
Another 9.8 million viewers watched the game on either Telemundo or Peacock.
Monday night’s game between the U.S. and Belgium will likely report even higher ratings. While Nielsen ratings haven’t been released, the combined English and Spanish audiences for the U.S.-Belgium game averaged 47.9 million viewers, according to estimates from AdImpact.
Even non-U.S. games have drawn big audiences. More than 11 million viewers watched Portugal vs. Croatia on Fox, making it the most-watched non-finals game in U.S. history that didn’t involve the U.S. team.
Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
