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In a move that can transform the way people consume the most popular sport, football, FIFA has signed a broadcast deal with Netflix for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031. Netflix has been making rapid strides in the world of sports, recently organizing the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul boxing fight and now they have landed another mega deal.
While the value of the deal is yet to be disclosed, it marks a major change as it is the biggest deal FIFA has signed with a streaming device that doesn’t have TV channels. This indicates that going forward, sporting media rights deals could soon become digital-first with the streamers reselling them to TV channels. While it’s not the first time a streaming device has exclusively bought rights for a sporting tournament, it’s still rare with TV broadcasters owning the majority of the media rights.
“Bringing this iconic tournament to Netflix isn’t just about streaming matches,” Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria said in a statement. “It’s also about celebrating the players, the culture and the passion driving the global rise of women’s sport.”
Women’s World Cup and Tyson’s boxing match are not the only sporting events that Netflix has clinched so far, they will also broadcast two NFL games on Christmas Day: the Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans. That’s part of a three-year deal announced in May.
Netflix deal a big plus for women’s World Cup brand
The Netflix deals can also help increase the brand value of the Women’s World Cup in football.
World Cups are typically broadcast on free-to-air public networks to reach the biggest audiences, and the last women’s edition in 2023 earned FIFA less than 10% of the men’s 2022 World Cup.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino had publicly criticized public broadcasters, especially in Europe, for undervaluing offers to broadcast the 2023 tournament that was played in Australia and New Zealand. That tournament was broadcast by Fox in the US.
“This agreement sends a strong message about the real value of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the global women’s game,” Infantino said.
FIFA will likely use the Netflix deal to drive talks with European broadcasters that likely will be hardball negotiations.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, a co-host of The Price of Football podcast, suggested the deal was “a bit of a gamble” for FIFA and “saber-rattling” by Infantino.
“(Netflix) get experience of football broadcasting, FIFA can say, ‘we are now partnering with a blue chip organization, so watch out you nasty Europeans,’” Maguire, an academic at the University of Liverpool, said.
FIFA and Infantino also want to raise the price of broadcast deals to help fund increased prize money and close the gender pay gap on the men’s World Cup.
Can Netflix help FIFA close the gender pay gap?
At the men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 32 team federations shared $440 million in prize money. For the women’s 2023 tournament, FIFA had a $152 million total fund for prize money, contributions to teams’ preparation costs and payments to players’ clubs.
In FIFA’s financial accounts for 2023, the football body reported total broadcasting revenue of $244 million. In the year of the men’s 2022 World Cup it was almost $2.9 billion.
The next Women’s World Cup will be a 32-team, 64-game tournament in 2027, played in Brazil from June 24-July 25. The U.S. originally bid jointly with Mexico.
The 2031 host has not been decided, though the US likely will bid for a tournament which FIFA is expected to try to expand to 48 teams. That would match the size of the 104-game format of the men’s World Cup that debuts in 2026 in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Spain won the 2023 Women’s World Cup after the US won the two previous titles — in France in 2019 and Canada in 2015.
More than 25 million viewers in the US watched the 2015 World Cup final, a 5-2 win over Japan, played in Vancouver, Canada, in a time zone similarly favourable to Brazil.
FIFA tried to sign Apple+ to an exclusive global deal to broadcast the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup which is being played in 11 US cities next June and July.
Broadcast networks showed little interest in the FIFA club event that will now be broadcast for free on streaming service DAZN, which is building closer business ties to Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of the next Women’s World Cup, Netflix will “produce exclusive documentary series in the lead-up to both tournaments, spotlighting the world’s top players, their journeys and the global growth of women’s football,” FIFA said.
With agency inputs
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