NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL and ESPN are negotiating an extension of their rights deal that would significantly increase the network’s payments and also could include new media rights.
Despite the impending expiration of the collective bargaining agreement with the players, the league already has contracts with its other broadcast partners that cover the 2011 season and beyond. ESPN is signed up through 2013, paying $1.1 billion a year for Monday night football and the NFL draft.
Last fall, the league extended ESPN’s exclusive bargaining window, and an ESPN spokesman says, “We continue to have conversations with the NFL and have not yet reached a new agreement.”
Earlier this week, a special master began hearings on an NFLPA complaint that the league improperly renegotiated network TV contracts.
