Netflix, Disney, YouTube bidding for World Cup U.S. rights

Netflix, Disney, and Alphabet's YouTube are preparing to compete for U.S. broadcast rights to the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups, with media company executives budgeting between $1.5 billion and $2 billion per tournament, according to CNBC.

>Apple and Amazon are also potential bidders. Within the next three months, FIFA and prospective media partners are expected to sit down for formal talks, sources said on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the negotiations.

>The rights represent a substantial price increase over the current arrangement. For the 2026 tournament, Fox secured English-language rights at $485 million and Telemundo paid $600 million for Spanish-language rights. Going forward, FIFA is expected to sell those rights as a combined package — a move that analysts say would remove the downward pricing pressure that comes from having separate bidders compete for the same games in different languages.

>A bundled rights package would likely price NBCUniversal out of contention, CNBC reported, as the company faces the financial scrutiny of a planned spinout announced by parent Comcast last month and is already committed to multibillion-dollar deals with the NFL and NBA.

>For Disney, a bid would open the possibility of airing matches on ESPN and ABC alongside its streaming service — an attractive proposition for FIFA given how well broadcast television has performed for Fox this year. Netflix, meanwhile, has an existing relationship with FIFA after being handed rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups.

>Record viewership for the 2026 tournament is strengthening FIFA's negotiating position. The July 1 match in which the U.S. defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina drew 26.4 million viewers on Fox, setting a record as the highest-rated English-language soccer telecast in history, Front Office Sports reported. Viewership estimates from AdImpact put the combined English- and Spanish-language audience for the subsequent U.S.-Belgium game at 47.9 million.

>American broadcasters will face scheduling headwinds with both upcoming tournaments: Morocco, Portugal, and Spain put the 2030 matches five to six hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast, and Saudi Arabia's time zone for 2034 creates an even steeper gap — shrinking the window for evening programming that typically draws the largest domestic audiences.

>Doug Perlman, who leads Sports Media Advisors, said that FIFA enters these negotiations from a position of strength, given the field of North American leagues all competing for the same media dollars. "There's no question that FIFA is going to get a huge increase for its U.S. rights," Perlman said.