FIFA Puts the 2030 World Cup Up for Bid

FIFA has put the U.S. rights to the 2030 World Cup up for bid. On Oct. 22, it opened a tender for U.S. and Puerto Rico media rights to the 2030 men's tournament, with an option on 2034. Bids are due Nov. 19, and FIFA plans to pick a winner by the end of the year.

FIFA would prefer to sell the English-language and Spanish-language rights to one partner, a change from the current split between Fox and Telemundo. But it says it will also hear standalone language bids, as well as separate bids for TV and streaming. In other words, it wants one buyer to take everything, while leaving the door open to anyone who can make a better case for a piece.

The backdrop could hardly be stronger. Fox is estimated to have paid $425 million for the 2026 tournament, and that World Cup averaged 13.5 million viewers a match, up 166% on 2022. YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Disney have all shown interest, and media executives have predicted a price of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.

Consider what that means. The last time these rights went through an open sale was in 2011. Since then, the World Cup came to North America and broke American soccer viewing records.

FIFA is now selling at the top of the market, with the most recent tournament as its sales pitch, and it is asking one company to pay for the whole thing. For 15 years, the U.S. World Cup rights were priced like a gamble.

The 2026 tournament proved what American soccer audiences look like, and the predicted price reflects that. But the next two tournaments won't look like the last one. The 2030 World Cup will be played mostly in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and 2034 is in Saudi Arabia, time zones that don't suit American audiences.

Bidders are being asked to pay for proof gathered at home and apply it to tournaments played far away. That is the real question in front of every bidder: was 2026 a peak, or the new floor? A legacy network with a Spanish-language arm, a streamer chasing live events, a sports network that once held the tournament for two decades, each will have to decide how much of the 2026 audience it believes will follow the World Cup overseas.

Whoever wins is paying for the floor. The answer will also say a lot about where the biggest events in sports are heading. With FIFA expecting bidders from both the linear side and the streaming side, the 2030 sale will show whether the biggest events in sports stay with traditional networks or move to the streamers.

And with bids due in less than a month, FIFA intends to find out quickly. For 15 years, the U.S. World Cup rights were priced like a gamble.

year deal on Oct. 22, making permanent the seat beside Jim Nantz he took over after CBS and Tony Romo parted ways, the lede in these pages on Oct. 6. Greg Olsen, in the final year of his Fox contract, and Troy Aikman, in his final year at ESPN, had both been linked to the job and are headed for broadcasting free agency. CBS locked in its own analyst before anyone else could bid.

the Indian Premier League franchise's men's and women's teams in India. Nike will outfit players, coaches and technical staff across matchplay, training and sportswear, and sell fan apparel. Nike India called it part of its continued investment in cricket; Reliance Sports framed it as connecting cricket and culture.

In India, a team shirt is also fashion, and fans wear their team every day.

pharmaceutical partner of the McLaren Formula One team from the United States Grand Prix, with a campaign turning points into donations to patient groups, as reported here on Oct. 21. Its company: McLaren's other new deals this year include Puma, Topps, Rubrik, Schneider Electric, the Hedera Foundation and Global, plus renewals with Cisco, Deloitte, Intel and AkzoNobel. Fashion, collectibles, software, energy, consulting and now a drug company all want to be near F1.

brings the Premier League back in First reported here on Oct. 20, Rezzil's $10 million round sees the Premier League extend the equity backing it first gave in 2024, with Borussia Dortmund's Jobe Bellingham joining. The Manchester company's 3D tools recreate match situations for broadcasts, including the BBC's Match of the Day. Former Hawk-Eye and NBA executive Jake Loos will lead North America from a new Chicago office, and headcount is set to grow from about 50 to 100.

Strategic growth round for North American expansion, with Phil Kenyon and Simba Investments also joining Dutch tech founders → Huppa €1M Pre-seed round for an operating system for gyms and studios, with NL SportTech Ventures taking part LAUNCHub and BrightCap → 1club €2.2M Seed round for software for gyms and sports clubs; closed in August, disclosed Oct. 1

Uber Eats invited fans to assemble their own version of its Super Bowl ad inside the app, from more than 1,000 possible edits. Built by Special's U.S. and Australian teams, it drove the platform's best-ever Super Bowl sales, turning the most expensive slot in American television into something you do inside the app.

A Lisbon fund bets on Belenenses climbing back Sportico reports that Apex, which launched a sports growth fund in December, agreed to invest $7.6 million (€6.8 million), in stages, for up to 49% of Os Belenenses and two of five board seats; members keep majority control. The first three tranches value the club at $14 million, rising to $22.5 million for the last if it reaches Portugal's top division. The deal still needs the president's re-election and a member vote.

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Rights for a World Cup played in America were priced before anyone knew it would be played in America. Now 2026 has set the bar, and the bidders are lining up for tournaments abroad. tart with how the U.S. got here. In 2011, Fox won the English-language rights to the World Cup, beating ESPN and NBC, for a reported fee of $400 million to $500 million.

Telemundo paid $600 million for the Spanish-language rights. Then, in February 2015, FIFA extended both deals through 2026 without any bidding at all. At the time, the extension was widely seen as compensation for moving the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the winter, right in the middle of the NFL season that Fox had to broadcast.

A FIFA inquiry report later said the extension was given in exchange for Fox agreeing not to act against FIFA, and it cited FIFA's own secretary general, Jerome Valcke, acknowledging that "potentially we are losing money," because the U.S. rights weren't sold in an open process. So the rights for a World Cup played in America were priced back when nobody knew it would be played in America. Then 2026 happened.

FIFA says the tournament averaged 13.5 million viewers a match across TV and streaming. The U.S. men's quarterfinal against Belgium drew about 50 million. The final, Spain against Argentina, drew more than 60 million across English and Spanish, the most-watched soccer match in

history. Telemundo alone averaged 6.3 million across the tournament. The business side was just as striking.

Comcast said the World Cup lifted its U.S. ad revenue by 14.6% in the third quarter; without the games, the increase would have been just 0.3%. Reported estimates of what Fox paid for 2026 run from $425 million to $485 million. In hindsight, that may be one of the biggest bargains in sports media.

Now look at the bidders. NBC has the clearest case for the one-partner package FIFA wants. Telemundo already carries the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Serie A and the U.S. national teams in Spanish, with the Champions League coming in 2027, and NBC and Telemundo already share the Olympics.

In July, Telemundo's head of sports, Joaquin Duro, told Sports Business Journal the company was "beyond exploring" adding the English-language rights. Fox has been FIFA's partner for three World Cups, but its Spanish-language channel is much smaller. ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro put it simply: ESPN had the World Cup for two decades, and "of course we're interested." YouTube has said it wants the men's World Cup, as noted in these pages on Oct. 5.

And Netflix, as reported here on Oct. 20, has the 2030 tournament in Spain, on top of the next two Women's World Cups in the U.S. But there's a catch. The 2030 World Cup will be played mostly in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three centenary matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

The 2034 edition is in Saudi Arabia. Those time zones almost guarantee smaller U.S. audiences than 2026, with many matches landing in the American morning or early afternoon. FIFA's chief business officer, Romy Gai, says, "We want to be flexible," and that FIFA expects a big number of bidders, "both from the linear side and from the streamer side." FIFA is selling the next two World Cups on the strength of the last one, and the bids are due in less than a month.

The price of a sure thing just went up. Everyone wants to pay for what's already been proven, from World Cup bidders to CBS with JJ Watt. The question is whether 2026 was a peak or the new floor.