Five-a-side: America's US$2 Billion World Cup, Africa Goes Free To Air And India's Women Find A Sponsor
24 October 2026
Media: The US$2 Billion World Cup
A week after selling the World Cup rights to Netflix for Spain, FIFA has gone after the biggest sports market. On Thursday it opened the bidding for the US and Puerto Rico rights to the 2030 World Cup, with an option on 2034 in Saudi Arabia, Reuters reports. Bids are due on November 19, the day after nominations close for FIFA’s presidential election, and FIFA says it is open to “innovative approaches”. Netflix will have noticed.
Interestingly, this time FIFA wants to “pool the English and Spanish language rights together with one broadcast partner”. That is bad news for Fox, but good news for NBC, whose Telemundo channel is a lot stronger than Fox Deportes. Telemundo averaged 6.3 million viewers per match in 2026, about 24 million for the final, and a channel executive said NBC is “beyond exploring” a bid for both languages.
ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro says Disney is “of course” interested, and Netflix, which already holds the US rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups, could be NBC’s biggest challenger. It has just hired Peter Rice, the former president of 21st Century Fox, as chief content officer, replacing Bela Bajaria and overseeing live events, Medianews4U reports.
After this summer’s World Cup, FIFA has a far more established US market and will expect a much higher return. Matches averaged 13.5 million US viewers, up 166 per cent on the 2022 tournament in Qatar, and Fox paid only US$485 million for the rights, Front Office Sports reports. That is seen as a cut-price deal, and FIFA won’t be selling from the bargain basement again.
Front Office Sports also reports that, from an NBC perspective, the World Cup lifted Comcast’s domestic advertising sales by 14.6 per cent; without it, the rise would have been 0.3 per cent. So how much can FIFA get this time? Fox and Telemundo paid about US$1.1 billion between them for 2026, and the tournament brought in an estimated US$1.19 billion in US advertising. With both languages now in one package, The Current, a US media trade site, reports that the next deal could be worth US$1.5 billion to US$2 billion.
Africa: AFCON 2027 Goes Free-to-Air
While American networks prepare their bids, Africa has gone the other way. CAF has named two UK-based companies, Media Experts Limited (MEL) and Media Business Solutions (MBS), as the exclusive free-to-air rights holders for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations across sub-Saharan Africa, according to The Guardian Nigeria. The two companies will build a network of national and regional free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters in at least 40 countries, aiming to reach more than 500 million households.
The tournament will take place in June and July 2027. It is the first AFCON shared by three nations, with FTA coverage guaranteed in the host nations, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and, more significantly, in Nigeria and South Africa. “Free-to-air television is where Africa watches its biggest moments together,” said Kunle Falodun of Media Experts Limited.
A pay-TV deal is already in place, concluded in late September with Canal+ and SuperSport and covering sub-Saharan Africa; the strategy is simple: pay-TV brings in the money, and free-to-air builds the audience sponsors pay for. The split between the two has not yet been disclosed.
MEL and MBS are rights agencies, like IMG or Lagardère: they buy the rights from CAF and sell them on to broadcasters in each country. No fees have been disclosed, but deals like this usually include a minimum guarantee, so the agencies are under pressure to sell to broadcasters who know SuperSport has the same tournament. CAF will be hoping this deal lasts longer than its last two big TV deals: it cancelled Lagardère’s US$1 billion contract in 2019 after an Egyptian competition ruling, and beIN Sports’ in 2023 over unpaid fees.
India: Women’s Football Finds A Sponsor, And Nike Returns
The men’s Indian Super League started its season with a title sponsor, JSW MG Motor India, and this week the women’s game found one too, ahead of its new season, which starts on the 13th of November.
Lxme, a financial platform built for women, has become the title sponsor of the Indian Women’s League, Inside World Football reports. The AIFF runs the league, and it is the first major deal since Capri Sports took on a 15-year contract to sell its commercial rights. “We’ve always believed that women’s sport is good business,” said Capri Sports’ Jinisha Sharma.
On the same day, but on a much larger scale, Nike, which made the India team’s kit until 2020, has returned to Indian cricket as kit partner to Mumbai Indians, one of the IPL’s most successful franchises, on a multi-year deal from the 2027 season, SportsMint reports. “Cricket is woven into the heartbeat of India, and few teams capture its energy like Mumbai Indians,” said Tarundeep Singh, Nike India's general manager. Neither deal’s value has been disclosed.
No surprise that cricket still lands the landmark deals. But football, on a much smaller scale, is finding sponsors in both the men’s and women’s game, and the ISL’s free YouTube coverage now gives its clubs the viewing data to show partners what their money buys.
Golf: LIV’s Sunday Deadline
Mark Sunday down in your diaries for two reasons. On that day, LIV’s players must commit to LIV 2.0, and only four have signed: Cameron Tringale, Ben Campbell, Richard Bland and Brendan Steele, BroBible reports, citing Golf Digest. Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen have all opted out. Bryson DeChambeau still hasn’t said, but ESPN reports he is working behind the scenes to make LIV 2.0 happen. BC Partners, which backs the new league, can extend the deadline if needed.
Brazil: Shopee Steps In At Corinthians
The second reason is what’s happening in Brazil, where the presidential runoff takes place on Sunday, the same day betting licences expire under Lula’s ban.
Every Série A club has now ended or suspended its betting sponsorship, and, BNLData reports, the Supreme Court will not rule until after the vote. Last week we asked who would replace the betting companies, and Corinthians has a short-term answer: Shopee, the online marketplace, has been on the front of the shirt for the last nine league games, Poder360, a Brazilian news site, reports. The fee has not been disclosed. For comparison, Esportes da Sorte, whose deal is now suspended, was paying R$150 million a year.
