NBC is paying roughly $2.5 billion a year for NBA games and only about $2 billion a year for Sunday Night Football. That $500 million gap has NFL executives absolutely fuming and for good reason too. Think about it, the NFL is the undisputed king of American TV, and somehow the NBA walked away with a fatter check.
The NBA’s 11-year deal with NBC is worth roughly $27 billion total, which is a staggering number on its own. But when NFL bosses saw that their product which is the most-watched thing on American television, was being undervalued by half a billion dollars a year, they decided it was time to do something about it.
The Ratings Tell a Completely Different Story
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) tosses the ball during the first quarter in an NFL football AFC Wild Card playoff matchup, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. Bills lead 10-7 at the half over the Jaguars. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]
What really makes this whole situation wild is the viewership gap between the two leagues. Sunday Night Football averaged a record 23.5 million viewers during the 2025 season, the best in the show’s entire 20-year history and enough to make it primetime’s No. 1 show for an unprecedented 15th consecutive year.
NBA regular-season games, by comparison, pull in about 1.8 million viewers on average. That means football is outperforming basketball by a factor of roughly 10 to 15 on any given night. If you need one stat to sum it all up,Super Bowl LX averaged 124.9 million viewers and peaked at an astonishing 137.8 million. NFL regular-season games broadly averaged 18.7 million viewers across the 2025 slate.
Why NBC Paid More for Way Fewer Eyeballs
Feb 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; NBC Peacock analysts Reggie Miller (left) and Jamal Crawford (center) and play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle watch during the 75th NBA All Star Game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
So why on earth would NBC pay more for a sport that fewer people watch? It comes down to volume and streaming strategy. NBC broadcasts around 100 regular-season NBA games per year, plus the playoffs, conference finals, and the All-Star Game. The NFL package, by contrast, only delivers about 18–20 regular-season games a year.
NBC structured the NBA deal specifically to feed Peacock, its streaming platform, using those 100 games as year-round content to attract and keep subscribers. They weren’t buying primetime dominance, they were buying streaming fuel.
Peacock’s Half-Billion Dollar Headache
Feb 4, 2026; Santa Clara, CA, USA; NBC Peacock television camera with Super Bowl LX logo at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Here’s where the streaming numbers starts to look shaky. Peacock lost $552 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, a 48% increase compared to the same period in 2024, when losses were $372 million. A big chunk of those losses came from the onset of payments toward that massive $2.5 billion-a-year NBA deal.
Even before the NBA season tipped off, some NBC executives were getting worried. Peacock did grow its subscriber base to 44 million paid subscribers and revenue hit $1.6 billion for the quarter, but the red ink is hard to miss.
The NFL Isn’t Waiting Around — It Wants to Talk Now
Sep 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; The Philadelphia Eagles execute a tush push for a first down against the Dallas Cowboys during the fourth quarter of the game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Rather than sitting tight until the 2029 opt-out window in its current media contracts, the NFL is pushing to start renegotiation discussions right now. NFL Media chief Hans Schroeder confirmed at Super Bowl LX that the league plans to talk with companies outside its traditional broadcast partners about live game rights.
The NFL’s current deal, last negotiated in 2021, runs through 2033 but includes opt-out clauses after the 2029 season. Media analyst Rich Greenfield estimates the league could potentially pull in 50% more annually from a new set of agreements.
The NBA Deal Just Became NBC’s Biggest Trap
Jan 13, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; NBA on NBC broadcasters watch a game between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
NBC is now caught in a financial vise, and it’s tightening fast. On one side, the network is locked into that 11-year, $27 billion NBA commitment that’s currently losing money. On the other, the NFL is gearing up to demand significantly more than the current $2 billion annual price tag.
Andrew Marchand has speculated that NBC might need to nearly double its NFL payment just to stay competitive. But at some point, the network will have to say no. And if NBC balks? Marchand warns that “all hell breaks loose” and NBC would immediately go after Fox’s or CBS’s NFL packages.
YouTube, Amazon, and the Tech Giants Are Circling
Multiple streaming services appear on a Roku TV.
For the first time ever, traditional broadcasters aren’t just fighting each other for NFL rights and they’re up against tech giants with seemingly bottomless pockets. YouTube already holds NFL Sunday Ticket through a seven-year, $14 billion deal and successfully streamed a Week 1 game from Brazil that drew 16.2 million U.S. viewers.
With parent company Alphabet sitting on a roughly $3.7 trillion market cap, YouTube could overwhelm any traditional broadcaster in a bidding war. Amazon Prime Video is also in the mix, already broadcasting Thursday Night Football.
Every Other Sport Is About to Feel the Squeeze
Feb 22, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) drives to the basket against Chicago Bulls guard Tre Jones (30) during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
The NFL’s push for more money doesn’t just affect football, it threatens to reshape the economics of every sports property on TV. NBC is already paying premium rates for the NBA and would soon face massive NFL cost increases.
That leaves us asking whether or not can NBC even afford to keep the Premier League, which is approaching its own media rights renewal ?
What Losing Sunday Night Football Would Mean for NBC
Dec 7, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; A Sunday Night Football camera is seen during the second quarter of the game between the against the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images
Let’s be clear: Sunday Night Football isn’t just another show on NBC’s lineup — it’s the backbone of the entire network’s primetime identity. It has been the No. 1 primetime program for 15 consecutive years, a record that crushes everything else in American television history, including American Idol’s six-year run. The 2025 season delivered a record eight games averaging more than 25 million viewers. If NBC lost this anchor property because its NBA commitment left no room to match a competing bid from YouTube or Amazon, it would be catastrophic. As OutKick framed it, the NBC-NBA deal could end up being “one of the most disastrous decisions in recent network history” if it costs them football. The Cowboys-Eagles game alone pulled 28.3 million viewers this season. You simply cannot replace that kind of cultural and commercial dominance with any other programming.
The Clock Is Ticking — And Nobody Knows How This Ends
Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen (41) celebrates his tackle of Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy (1) in the second quarter during a Monday Night NFL football game at EverBank Stadium, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug EngleFlorida Times-Union]
The countdown is on. The NFL’s opt-out window after the 2029 season creates a hard deadline, but the real negotiations are already starting behind closed doors. NBC Sports is reportedly running financial models to figure out how much more it can afford to pay while absorbing its NBA losses. The league has freed up four Monday Night Football games through its recent equity deal with ESPN, creating immediate inventory for a potential new streaming partner. International games — nine planned for next season, a record — may serve as the entry point for tech companies to prove they can handle bigger NFL packages. The NFL could even push networks to pay more in exchange for a promise not to exercise its early termination option, giving broadcasters long-term security. The question that will define the next era of sports media isn’t whether the NFL will demand more money. It’s whether traditional television can survive paying it.
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Sources:
OutKick, “Here’s How NBC’s Disastrous Investment in the NBA Could Cost the Network the NFL,” February 2026
Awful Announcing, “John Ourand: NFL Executives ‘Irritated’ by NBC’s NBA Deal,” February 2026
On3, “NFL Executives ‘Irritated’ by NBC’s NBA Deal Per Report,” February 2026
Times of India, “NFL Executives Frustrated as NBC Pays $500M More Annually for NBA Rights Than Sunday Night Football,” February 2026
NBC Sports, “Record-Setting Season as Sunday Night Football on NBC and Peacock Averages 23.5 Million Viewers, Paces as Primetime’s #1 Show for Unprecedented 15th Consecutive Year,” February 2025
Awful Announcing, “YouTube ‘Very Excited’ About Possibility of Acquiring More NFL Rights,” February 2026
