NFL executives 'irritated' by NBC's NBA deal per report

NBC is pulling off a trifecta of sports coverage in February. They’ve moved from the Super Bowl LX to the Winter Olympics to the NBA All-Star Game with relative ease. But one of those entities has not been happy with spreading the wealth.

Literally.

Recently, news emerged that behind-the-scenes NFL executives are fuming over the idea that NBC is paying more for Sunday Night Basketball than Sunday Night Football.

The revelation came to light on The Athletic sports media reporter Andrew Marchand‘s most recent podcast featuring Puck’s John Ourand. During a discussion on the NFL’s likely decision to shop their media rights ahead of opting out of their deal in 2029, Ourand explained the NFL could be looking for some payback after the NBA topped them at NBC last time around.

“Executives at the NFL are irritated. That deal irritated them,” Ourand said. “The idea that NBC is paying more for Sunday Night Basketball than for Sunday Night Football. These are people and personalities, and it makes the executives at the NFL crazy that that happens. So could they come in and just start to turn the screw because of that NBA deal?”

As Marchand noted, the NBA’s deal with NBC, which prompted the league to leave longtime partner TNT, comes in around $2.45 million annually. Meanwhile, the NFL’s deal with NBC “only” pays $2 million.

And commissioner Roger Goodell and company just can’t have that, as the top dog on the block. But, the question now becomes how high a price would NBC be willing to pay to keep their Sunday night staple?

“You said it at the top. Do they have to double that? I mean two-thirds that and there is a point where you have to say, ‘No, we can’t do that.'” Marchand questioned. “And that’s where it gets a little bit tricky.”

And if NBC balks at a hefty new sum to keep Sunday Night Football, Marchand believes “all hell breaks loose.”

“Lets just say for the point of having a little fun here. NBC were to lose Sunday night. Well, they’re not just going to sit here and say, ‘Well we’re good. We’re out.'” Marchand concluded. “Nope. They’d be, ‘We want FOX’s package [or] we want CBS’s package [or] we want Thursday Night Football [or] we want Monday Night Football.’ So they’re not just gonna sit back. That’s where all hell breaks loose.”

The NFL often holds the keys in any negotiation, as the biggest sport in the United States. And it seems either NBC will learn that once more, or a reshuffling of the NFL media landscape could be upon the sports world.

Either way, expect the NFL to find a way to get a bigger piece of the pie than the NBA. And if that is on NBC, they’ll be more than happy to share at that point.