Netflix, Disney, YouTube Eye FIFA World Cup U.S. Rights Deal
FIFA is bundling English and Spanish U.S. broadcast rights for 2030 and 2034, with a deal potentially worth $2 billion.
Netflix, Disney, and YouTube are among the media giants competing for U.S. broadcasting rights to the FIFA World Cup, with a potential deal covering both the 2030 and 2034 tournaments that could reach $2 billion, according to reports from CNBC.
FIFA has signaled to media companies that English-language and Spanish-language rights for the U.S. market will likely be sold as a combined package rather than separately. That strategic bundling is expected to substantially drive up the final price, making it one of the most expensive sports media deals in recent memory.
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The move reflects FIFA's growing leverage in the American sports media landscape. With the 2026 World Cup already set to be hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, soccer's global governing body is capitalizing on surging domestic interest in the sport to extract maximum value from broadcasters eager to lock in premium live sports content.
For streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube, landing World Cup rights would mark a significant escalation in their pursuit of live sports — a category both have been aggressively moving into as linear TV audiences decline. Disney, which controls ESPN and ABC, already holds deep experience broadcasting major soccer tournaments and would be defending turf it considers core to its sports portfolio.
The outcome of these negotiations will carry broad implications for how American audiences watch the world's most-viewed sporting event for the next decade. A combined English-and-Spanish package could also reshape the competitive dynamics of Spanish-language sports broadcasting, long dominated by Univision and Telemundo. Continue reading at US Top News and Analysis.
