FIFA opens bidding for 2030 World Cup US media rights, with 2034 option

FIFA launched a tender offer Thursday for U.S. media rights to the 2030 men's World Cup, and is giving potential partners the option to also buy rights for the 2034 tournament. Bids are due by Nov. 19, and FIFA intends to select its next media partner before the end of the year, according to chief business officer Romy Gai.

YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Disney have all shown interest, CNBC reported in July. Some media executives predicted at the time that the rights could sell for between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. FIFA has not sold U.S. rights to the men's World Cup since 2011.

Strong recent ratings

Fox paid $425 million for the 2026 World Cup, which set U.S. ratings records. Matches averaged 13.5 million viewers, an increase of 166% from 2022. That tournament was staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The 2030 World Cup will be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, while the 2034 edition will be played in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is seven hours ahead of New York, a time difference that may make it hard to schedule games during U.S. primetime hours and will factor into how much media companies are willing to spend.

Gai said he expects the time zones to matter, but not as much as some might assume. "I'm sure that we will have every day matches that will be available in the right time zone for the U.S.," he said. "We expect it to have an impact, but not as big as you think."

English and Spanish rights bundled

FIFA would prefer to sell the English-language and Spanish-language rights together to a single partner, a change from previous deals. For the 2026 tournament, NBCUniversal's Telemundo held the Spanish rights and Fox held the English rights, which created tension between the broadcasters and FIFA because Peacock carried the Spanish-language coverage at a lower price than Fox One, which streamed the games with English announcers.

Gai said it is too early to gauge what price is realistic for 2030. FIFA is open to a single company buying the whole package or to a joint offer, potentially pairing a streamer with a traditional broadcaster.

"We want to be flexible," Gai said. "We expect a big number of participants, both from the linear side and from the streamer side, but we want to listen to what is relevant for them, and then we can build up the best case together."

If a streaming service wins the rights, FIFA will make sure a certain number of matches are available for free, either by requiring the streamer to sublicense some rights or by placing games on a free version of the service where one exists. Netflix has already acquired the 2030 World Cup rights in Spain, under a deal that allows a free-to-air broadcaster to show at least one game each day.

What happens next

After the Nov. 19 deadline, a FIFA contingent will travel to the United States around Thanksgiving and begin meeting media companies in person, Gai said. FIFA could then narrow the field and request one final bid, or simply choose a winner.

Source: CNBC Top News.