The competition for US rebroadcast rights in 2030 and 2034 has begun to heat up in the American media industry. According to the source, Netflix, Disney and YouTube under the banner of Alphabet are evaluating the bidding programme and preparing to challenge Fox, which currently holds a relevant interest.

Two billion dollars per race.

According to sources, the budget of several media companies has been set at between $1.5 billion and $2 billion per session. By contrast, Fox paid about $485 million for the English-language transmission rights for the 2026 World Cup, and the price of the Spanish-language transmission rights under the NBCUniversal flag was about $600 million.

FIFA has indicated to potential partners in its initial contacts earlier this year that it is likely that English and Spanish transmission rights in the United States market will no longer be sold separately, but will instead be packaged. This practice was considered to further push up the offer.

According to sources, formal discussions between FIFA and potential media partners are expected to take place in the next three months. As the negotiations have not been made public, the persons concerned are not known. FIFA, Netflix, YouTube and Disney did not comment.

Pack up and raise the competitive threshold.

If English and Spanish copyrights were to be sold in combination, the competitive bidding threshold would be significantly higher and could change the current pattern of competition. In the past few World Cup sessions, the United States market has usually sold transmission rights in two languages, allowing different media companies to deploy different audiences.

According to the article, FIFA, which was in favour of a package sale, intended to reduce the conflict of interest when the same event was broadcast on different platforms, in addition to hoping to raise the total price. Previously, while Telemundo had only Spanish copyrights, it attracted some English-speaking audiences through Peacock, weakening Fox's monopoly on the United States market.

According to sources, NBCUniversal may not be actively involved in the competition if the total price is close to $2 billion. Considering that Comcast has announced plans to split the NBCUniversal and that it also covers high copyright expenditures such as NFL and NBA, future input space may be more restricted.

The TV platform wants to use the game to draw users.

For Netflix, Disney and YouTube, the World Cup is seen as an important content asset to enhance the attractiveness of streaming media operations. Disney can broadcast the competition through ESPN and ABC, in addition to the streaming media platform, which is also attractive to FIFA.

There is a basis for cooperation between Netflix and FIFA. FIFA had previously awarded the rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cup to Netflix, which showed a precedent for cooperation on the content of the big event.

In addition to the above-mentioned companies, Amazon and apples may also join the competition. The Amazon currently holds a European crown copyright on the British market, while apples own a global MLS copyright. The price of American copyright for the World Cup is likely to continue to rise if more technological platforms enter.

The time zone is still unstoppable.

The 2030 World Cup will be held in Morocco, Portugal and Spain, and will be hosted by Saudi Arabia in 2034. Compared to 2026, which was co-sponsored by the United States, Canada and Mexico, these two events were not ideal for American television viewers.

However, the high ratings of the World Cup in the United States market this year continue to significantly increase the value of future copyrights. Fox Sports claims that the US team had a new high in English-language football, with an average audience of over 26 million people, during the previous match in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Telemundo and Peacock also brought about 9.8 million viewers.

The article cites AdImpact estimates that the United States competition against Belgium has a combined audience of approximately 47.9 million in English and Spanish. Even if it doesn't involve the US team, some of the competitions get high-profile. Portugal has attracted more than 11 million viewers to the First World War of Croatia in Fox, one of the highest ratings in the history of the United States of America, not including the American team.