In the United States, sports are televised on various broadcast networks, national and specialty sports cable channels, and regional sports networks. American sports rights are estimated to be worth a total of $22.42 billion in 2019, about 44% of the total worldwide sports media market. American networks are willing to pay a significant amount of money for television sports contracts because it attracts large amounts of viewership; live sport broadcasts accounted for 44 of the 50 list of most watched television broadcasts in the United States in 2016.
Among these television contracts, NBC holds a $7.75 billion contract, signed in 2014, to air the Olympic Games through the 2032 games, making it a major source of revenue for the International Olympic Committee. The broadcast deals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), running through 2032 (and including its most significant property, the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament — colloquially known as "March Madness"), were worth $8.8 billion in 2018.
The U.S. is home to four of the top five professional sports leagues by revenue in the world: Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL). The NFL has the largest television contracts, and earns about $11 billion annually from its contracts with Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN for the 2023 through 2033 seasons. MLB earns $1.5 billion annually from its contracts signed in 2012 with ESPN, Fox, and Turner Sports (TBS) for the 2014 through 2021 seasons. In 2014, the NBA signed a nine-year television deal with ABC/ESPN and TNT that generates annual league television revenues of $2.66 billion beginning with the 2016–17 season, while the NHL earns $625 million annually from seven-year contracts signed in 2021 with ESPN and Turner Sports to last until the 2027–28 season.
American football
National Football League
Since the 1960s, all regular season and playoff games broadcast in the United States have been aired by national television networks. Until the broadcast contract ended in 2013, the terrestrial television networks CBS, NBC, and Fox, as well as cable television's ESPN, paid a combined total of US$20.4 billion to broadcast NFL games. From 2014 to 2022, the same networks paid $39.6 billion for exactly the same broadcast rights. This increased to about $110 billion to air games from 2023 to 2033. The NFL thus holds broadcast contracts with four companies (Paramount Skydance, Comcast, Fox Corporation, and ESPN Inc.—which is majority owned by The Walt Disney Company, respectively) that control a combined media cross-ownership in the United States. League-owned NFL Network, on cable television, also broadcasts a selected number of games nationally. In 2017, the NFL games attracted the top three rates for a 30-second advertisement: $699,602 for NBC Sunday Night Football, $550,709 for Thursday Night Football (NBC), and $549,791 for Thursday Night Football (CBS).
For the 2020 NFL season, two extra wild card playoff games were added to the schedule; CBS and NBC acquired rights to these new games, with both paying roughly $70 million each.
Television Package Rightsholder Extent of coverage Current contract term AFC CBS 2023–2033 NFC Fox Sunday Night Football NBC Monday Night Football/NFLN Games ESPN/ABC NFL Network 2022–2033
Digital and out-of-market Package Rightsholder Extent of coverage Current contract termThursday Night Football Prime VideoTwitch 2022–2033NFL on Netflix Netflix 2024–2029 NFL Sunday Ticket YouTube TV 2023–2029 NFL+Streaming of in-market and national games on over-the-top subscription; merger of NFL Game Pass and previous streaming via Yahoo Sports.2022–????
Radio Westwood One has exclusive national radio rights through an unspecified multi-year period starting in the 2022 season. , Westwood One airs coverage of nationally telecast primetime games, as well as all playoff games and other NFL events.
Compass Media Networks, ESPN Radio, and the Sports USA Radio Network have national radio rights to regular season Sunday afternoon games sublicensed from Dial Global.
Each NFL team has local television stations with rights to preseason games and radio stations with rights to all games. Sirius XM has exclusive satellite radio rights to home, away, and, if available, national broadcast radio feeds of all games. It also has rights to online streaming of games for its subscribers starting with the 2011 season.
College football
College football coverage is dependent on negotiations between the broadcaster and the college football conference or team. The televised games may change from year-to-year depending on which teams are having a strong season, although some traditional college rivalry games are broadcast each year. Some games are traditionally associated with a specific event or holiday, and viewing the game itself can become a holiday tradition for fans.
Post-season bowl games, including the College Football Playoff, are presently all televised, most of them by the ESPN networks. The television broadcast rights to all six CFP bowls and the National Championship are owned by ESPN through at least the 2025 season. In November 2012, ESPN reached a 12-year deal to broadcast the remaining three bowls, the championship game, as well as shoulder programming such as ranking shows; as a whole, the contract is valued at around $470 million per year, or nearly $5.7 billion for the life of the contract.
Regular-season Conference/Team Rightsholder Extent of coverage Current contract termAmerican Conference ABC/ESPN 2020–2031CBS 2018–2027 2023–2028 2024–2038Atlantic Coast Conference ABC/ESPN 2019–2035 CW(via Raycom Sports) 2023–2026Big 12 Conference ABC/ESPN 2025–2030 Fox Sports 2025–2030 TNT Sports(via ESPN) 2025–2030Big Ten Conference Fox Sports 2023–2029 CBS 2023–2029 NBC 2023–2029 Big Ten Network 2023–2029Conference USA CBS 2023–2027 ESPN 2023–2027Mid-American Conference ESPN 2014–2026 CBS(via ESPN) Mountain West Conference CBS 2026–2031 Fox Sports CW 2026–2030 MW+ 2026–Pac-12 Conference CBS 2026–2030 CW USA Network Southeastern Conference ABC/ESPN 2024–2033 Sun Belt Conference ESPN 2020–2030 Notre Dame NBC 2024–2029 UConn CBS Sports Network 2020–2027
Postseason All bowl games, including most College Football Playoff games, and the College Football Playoff National Championship, air on ESPN networks unless otherwise noted. ABC: Two College Football Playoff first-round games (2024–present; simulcast with ESPN); one quarterfinal game, one semifinal game, and College Football Playoff National Championship (2027–present; simulcast with ESPN) CBS: Sun Bowl (1968–present) Fox: Holiday Bowl (2017, 2022–2025) TNT: Two College Football Playoff first-round games (2024–2025; sublicensed from ESPN); two first-round games, two quarterfinal games, and one semifinal game (2026–present; sublicensed from ESPN) The CW: Arizona Bowl (2023–present); Poinsettia Bowl (2026–present); Holiday Bowl (2026–present) NCAA Division I (FCS) Football Championship: ESPN networks (television), WestwoodOne (radio) NCAA Division II Football Championship game: ESPN2 NCAA Division III Football Championship game: ESPNU
Radio IMG College: Notre Dame Fighting Irish football (national rights), regional rights to numerous other teams as well as Big East and Southeastern Conference games of the week JMI Sports: regional rights to University of Kentucky sports, including Kentucky Wildcats football, from 2015 to 2030 Learfield Sports: regional rights to numerous teams Nevada Sports Network: 3 bowl games a year Sports USA Radio Network, Westwood One, Compass Media Networks, ESPN Radio, and Touchdown Radio Productions/United Stations Radio Networks: national games
CFL
Since 2023, CBS Sports Network holds the television rights to 34 games from the CFL. All games are produced by TSN. Games not picked up by CBSSN, including the Grey Cup, air for free on CFL+.
SiriusXM Canada's radio broadcasts of the CFL are available in the United States.
United Football League (UFL)
As part of the merger between the XFL (broadcast rights owned by ESPN/ABC) and USFL (broadcast rights owned by Fox Sports), both media partners maintained media agreements with the new United Football League. NBC Sports, who had shared media rights with Fox for the USFL, dropped their involvement due to schedule conflicts.
In 2026, ABC/ESPN aired 22 games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN app, and NFL Network, with the remaining games on Fox, FS1 and FS2.
Other professional football leagues National Arena League: Scripps Sports Network Indoor Football League: Yahoo Sports Network and Overnght Arena Football One: Vice TV and HomeTeam Network A7FL: DAZN and Creator Sports Network Women's National Football Conference: Victory+ European Football Alliance: Fubo Sports Network
Baseball
Major League Baseball National television
On August 28, 2012, it was announced that ESPN and Major League Baseball had agreed on a new eight-year deal that greatly increases the network's studio and game content across all of its platforms. Also it increased ESPN's average yearly payment from about $360 million to approximately $700 million. ESPN also returned to broadcasting postseason baseball beginning in 2014 with one of two wild-card games each season. The network alternates airing the American League and National League wild-card games each year. It also has the rights to all potential regular-season tiebreaker games starting in 2014.
On September 19, 2012, Sports Business Daily reported that Major League Baseball would agree to separate eight-year television deals with Fox Sports and Turner Sports through the 2021 season. Fox would reportedly pay around $4 billion over eight years (close to $500 million per year) while Turner would pay around $2.8 billion over eight years (more than $300 million per year). Under the new deals, Fox and TBS's coverage would essentially be the same as in the 2007–2013 contract with the exception of Fox and TBS splitting coverage of the Division Series, which TBS has broadcast exclusively dating back to 2007. More importantly, Fox would carry some of the games (such as the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week) on its all-sports channel, Fox Sports 1. Sources also said that was possible that Fox would sell some Division Series games to MLB Network, which did end up occurring.
On November 15, 2018, Fox renewed its rights, set to end in 2022, through 2028. The contract maintains Fox's current coverage structure, but with expanded digital rights, and the commitment to air more games on the Fox broadcast network when the new deal takes effect. Fox also committed to airing at least two of its League Championship Series games, as well as any Game 7, on the broadcast network beginning in 2019; it had been criticized for airing only Game 2 of the 2018 National League Championship Series, while placing the rest on Fox Sports 1.
On September 24, 2020, TBS also renewed its rights from 2022 through 2028, under which it will replace its late-season Sunday afternoon games with a season-long package of primetime games on Tuesday nights, and maintain its existing arrangements for playoff coverage. The contract also adds expanded digital rights for Bleacher Report and "additional WarnerMedia platforms". ESPN would in turn renew its rights to MLB on May 13, 2021, for the 2022 to 2028 seasons; the deal ends ESPN's coverage of weeknight games, but retains its exclusive Sunday night window and playoff telecasts. On March 8, 2022, Apple Inc. signed a seven-year deal with MLB for the broadcast for US$85 million per year, a total value of $595 million. This includes an annual $55 million rights fee as well as $30 million for Apple advertising. Apple has the right to exit the agreement after the first or second year.