NJ/NY Gotham FC’s Carli Lloyd fights for control against Orlando Pride’s Sydney Leroux during the second half of the NWSL game at Red Bull Arena on August 29, 2021.
Ira L. Black – Corbis | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
The National Women’s Soccer League announced Thursday a four-year media distribution deal with CBS Sports, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and Scripps Sports.
The deal, set to begin in 2024, includes agreements for 118 national windows across media channels, the league said, which is expected to generate “record-breaking distribution and revenue.” The NWSL begins each weekend of the regular season with Friday night games on Prime Video, followed by Saturday night doubleheader games on the Scripps-owned ION Network.
The league will also broadcast a package of regular-season games on CBS and stream live on Paramount+. Additionally, ESPN will broadcast a number of games across its various channels, including live streaming on ESPN+ in English and Spanish.
The NWSL’s remaining regular-season games will be part of a direct-to-consumer package, the league added.
The deal is set at $60 million per year, for a total term of $240 million, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
This is a 40x multiple of the NWSL’s previous agreement, the league said.
“These partnerships fundamentally change the way our league plays and the players who take the field every week,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in a statement. “We have placed great emphasis on ensuring our games are discoverable by increasing our reach to expose new audiences to everything that makes our league special without compromising the economic value of our product. This is the beginning of our future.”
CBS will broadcast at least 21 games, ESPN and ABC will broadcast 20 games, Prime Video will broadcast 27 games and Scripps will broadcast 50 games, the league said.
—CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report.
Source : www.cnbc.com