FIFA on Thursday effectively kicked off the latest round of skirmishes between the legacy U.S. TV networks and their streaming rivals, as global soccer’s governing body put the media rights to the 2030 World Cup on the block.
FIFA’s invitation to tender officially starts the clock on a 30-day bidding process for the stateside rights to the next men’s tournament, which will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco. While the tender is primarily focused on the 2030 World Cup, interested parties will also have the option to submit offers for the 2034 installment in Saudi Arabia.
Fox Sports began broadcasting the quadrennial sporting event in 2018, although the 2015 women’s World Cup marked the company’s first go-around with FIFA. Fox won the English-language rights in 2011, besting incumbent ESPN with a $425 million bid for two cycles.
While Fox’s contract was set to expire upon the close of the 2022 event, FIFA awarded the 2026 installment of the men’s tourney to Fox as a make-good gesture of sorts, after it became apparent that the Qatari climate would necessitate an unprecedented shift away from the traditional June-July schedule. As the move to the fourth quarter presented numerous conflicts with Fox’s fall NFL and college football slate, FIFA granted the network a no-bid extension at a deep discount ($485 million).
The good-faith gesture paid off in spades for both parties, as Fox set all-time ratings records with this summer’s World Cup. Staged in 16 cities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the 2026 tourney coincided with a breakout performance by the American team, which advanced to the round of 16. The 4-1 loss to Belgium averaged 33.09 million viewers on Fox alone, per Nielsen, with Telemundo’s linear TV network adding another 5.2 million Spanish-language viewers to the pile.
Spain’s victory over Argentina in the July 19 final averaged 38.94 million viewers on Fox, while the match window (40.91 million) earned bragging rights as the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics on CBS. When Telemundo’s 15.06 million viewers and a host of streaming impressions were tossed into the mix, the overall U.S. audience for the final worked out to some 66.42 million viewers.
As much as this summer’s deliveries undoubtedly helped boost the perceived value of the 2030 World Cup, the TV ratings for the Iberian/Moroccan edition won’t be as robust. Should the next men’s final be staged in Madrid, broadcasters and streamers in New York will face a six-hour time difference, while fans on the West coast will be subject to a nine-hour gap.
If the lack of a home-field advantage will make for a decline in deliveries here in the U.S., that’s not to say that FIFA won’t be deluged by offers between now and Nov. 19 at noon ET. Fox would very much prefer to retain its stranglehold over the English-language rights, and while macro issues make for a somewhat less certain outlook for NBC Sports and CBS Sports—Comcast is spinning off NBCUniversal and CBS parent Skydance is saddled with approximately $80 billion in debt following its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery—those players are also expected to throw their hats into the ring.
Meanwhile, as Netflix struggles to turn things around on the engagement front, the men’s World Cup would make for an effective conversion machine during the first half of summer 2030. The streamer snapped up the rights to the 2027 and 2031 women’s World Cups in December 2024, shelling out a reported $200 million for next year’s event in Brazil. An estimate for the 2031 tourney (U.S./Mexico/Jamaica/Costa Rica) has not been leaked.
Amazon’s Prime Video and Apple TV may also kick the tires on a men’s World Cup bid. Further information about the bidding process is expected to be made available later this afternoon, as IFA has scheduled a media session with chief business officer Romy Gai for 12:15 p.m. ET.
Earlier this month, Netflix snatched the exclusive rights to carry the 2030 men’s World Cup in Spain. The next men’s event marks the centenary edition of the tourney; as such, FIFA is marking the anniversary with one-off games to be staged in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. Uruguay hosted the inaugural World Cup in 1930, which it capped off with a 4-2 victory over Argentina in the final.