The rivalry between ESPN and Fox Sports is moving from the football field to the soccer pitch.
ESPN and Fox are poised to battle it out for the billion dollar rights to the 2030 men’s FIFA World Cup in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal. But the two sports media giants will likely have company at the negotiating table.
Netflix holds the exclusive rights in the U.S. and Canada to the women’s 2027 and 2031 World Cups. After the raging success of this year’s World Cup, the streaming giant could try for a clean sweep.
Elle Duncan, host of Netflix’s global sports coverage, told FOS that “everything is on the table” for Netflix when it comes to acquiring more mega sporting events like the men’s World Cup.
“It’s the perfect type of sporting event that would interest Netflix,” she said. “Despite what someone may believe, Netflix isn’t laying around waiting for scraps from other legacy broadcasters who don’t want things any more. They are only going to these leagues like, ‘We want things that can be major, that feel special and that are different.’ And the World Cup is exactly like that.
