NFL, ESPN close on new media contract

NEW YORK, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- ESPN and the National Football League say they've agreed to broad terms on a new media rights deal that will be worth nearly $2 billion per year.

No exact figures have been announced, but sources say ESPN will increase its annual rights fee by 65 percent to 70 percent, which means it will pay the league a record fee of $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion a year, Sports Business Daily reported Thursday.

Despite agreeing to pay a record amount to extend its rights to NFL content, including "Monday Night Football," neither ESPN nor ABC will have the rights to the Super Bowl or any NFL playoff games, as the NFL has long resisted moving playoff games away from broadcast television to cable.

The deal, expected to be finalized in several weeks, is reportedly for nine or 10 years, which would take it up to 2022-23.

ESPN President George Bodenheimer has visited NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the league's Manhattan offices several times in the fall while teams led by ESPN's Executive Vice President of Content John Skipper and the NFL's Executive Vice President Steve Bornstein have handled most of the negotiations.