Seven locks in NFL rights deal for 2025
Seven has locked in the exclusive free-to-air TV rights for the upcoming National Football League season, including the Super Bowl LX.
The new deal will see the network air three matches each week throughout the regular season.
Seven will now broadcast the Thursday night game (on Friday morning), plus two Sunday afternoon match-ups. The network will also show all playoff matches leading into the Super Bowl.
In addition, Seven will air the season opener, between the Dallas Cowboys and Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles.
The coverage will be spread across Seven, 7mate, and digital station 7plus Sport, which will also house on-demand shows, replays and highlights, plus a library of NFL Films Presents documentaries, the NFL Draft, NFL Honors, and more.
More than 2.5 million Australians tuned into Seven’s Super Bowl broadcast this February — quite an audience considering the 10.30am AEST Monday kick off. The four-hour broadcast reached an average audience of 892,000 at any given time.
This upcoming NFL season will be the most ‘available’ to Australian audiences.
Aside from Seven’s expanded coverage, which adds the Thursday night game, the NFL is now available through Disney+ via two ESPN live channels. These ESPN stations are also available to Foxtel’s set-top subscribers, as well as through Kayo Sport, and Fetch TV. For diehards, the NFL Game Pass is also available through DAZN, offering over 250 live games, plus a plethora of extra content.
This week, the NFL took a 10% stake in ESPN, in exchange for a number of football-related media assets.
Seven’s commercial director of sport, Renee Quirk, said the NFL has been “a key pillar of our sport offering” since it first started airing the league in 2014.
“With the addition of the Kickoff game and Thursday Night Football to this landmark deal, Australians will be treated to live and free NFL action on a Friday morning, which is an incredible result for both the growth of the sport in Australia and for Aussie viewers,” she said in a media release.
The NFL’s Australian GM Charlotte Offord, said providing free-to-air NFL content “remains a top priority” for the league, “with a fan base of 7.5 million and growing across the country.”
Seven’s coverage of the NFL pre-Season begins today, Friday August 8, with the Seahawks v Las Vegas Raiders live on 7mate.
The regular season kicks off on September 5.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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