The National Football League is reportedly aiming to complete a new round of media-rights agreements before the start of the 2026 season, accelerating a timetable that had previously pointed to negotiations later in the year.

According to Sports Media Watch, the league hopes to finalise new deals with its broadcast partners before September, with the agreements potentially taking effect immediately rather than waiting for the current contracts to expire.

The NFL’s existing rights packages — held by networks including CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and Amazon — technically run until at least 2029, but renegotiating early would allow partners to secure long-term access to the league’s most valuable programming. The NFL is expected to begin discussions with Paramount/CBS before moving on to other partners, while also leaving room to involve additional bidders. As NFL media distribution executive Hans Schroeder put it: “We’re going to listen and probably have a lot of different people that want to have a conversation with us.”

Industry observers believe the move could see networks paying more for potentially smaller packages, but the chance to retain NFL rights deep into the next decade is likely to ensure strong interest.