ESPN upset FIFA awarded 2026 World Cup to FOX without bidding war
ESPN is surprised that FIFA awarded the 2026 World Cup to Fox without a chance to bid on it themselves.
On Thursday, FIFA announced that they extended FOX Sports broadcasting rights for the World Cup through the 2026 tournament.
It was more than likely that FIFA would award FOX with the rights anyway, but this time they did so 11 years in advance and without any type of bidding war. They basically just went behind the other network’s backs and just handed the rights to FOX.
ESPN was one of the networks that planned to bid for the broadcasting rights for the World Cup, but were not able to. ESPN was surprised to say the least, saying they weren’t given an opportunity to even bid in a press release regarding the situation yesterday.
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"We were not invited to be involved in this process. Considering the high quality presentation that ESPN demonstrated and the exposure we brought to FIFA events through all our platforms, it was surprising and disappointing to learn of this when the press release was issued"
The last time there was any type of bidding competition for the broadcasting rights to the World Cup was back in 2011 when FOX outbid ESPN for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. NBC was also in the bidding war with FOX and ESPN.
This time around, there was no such explanation, since there was no bidding war.
NBC declined to comment on whether they had the opportunity to bid on the tournament, but FOX release a statement after they were awarded the rights.
We are truly honored that FIFA has elected to extend FOX Sports’ rights to the portfolio of FIFA events including the FIFA World Cup™ and FIFA Women’s World Cup™ through 2026. These events are some of the world’s most important sports competitions, and it is our privilege to be entrusted with these rights in the United States. We’re looking forward to the kick-off of FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015™ in June with great anticipation.
It’s a little bit strange that FIFA didn’t let ESPN bid on the rights for the tournament for 2026. It is very likely that the 2026 World Cup could be back in North America. The United States went hard after the 2022 tournament, but was outbid by Qatar.
It’s okay, players can play in 120 degree heat, no problem.
With the tournament possibly being back in North America, it would actually bring more value if ESPN, a North American broadcast channel, would host the tournament. However, FIFA apparently didn’t think so or doesn’t care.
H/T ESPN, Business Insider
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