NBC Sports will join Fox Sports in carrying live games from the reincarnated USFL pro football league as part of a multi-year deal reached between the parties. 

NBC Sports will carry all 21 games from the Fox Sports-controlled USFL league, which will begin play in April 2022 with eight-teams playing a 10-week regular season schedule. Of NBC Sports’ 21 USFL telecasts, eight will air on NBC, nine will air on USA Network, and four will stream on Peacock.

NBC Sports joins Fox Sports, which will air 22 USFL games split between Fox (12) and FS1 (10). The eight USFL teams – all franchises that were part of the inaugural USFL league that ran from 1983 to 1985 before folding – include The Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, New Orleans Breakers, Tampa Bay Bandits, Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Maulers.

"We're excited to partner with the USFL and Fox Sports to present this new era of professional football," NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said in a statement.  "With our multiple platforms across broadcast, cable, and streaming, football fans throughout the country will be able to experience the USFL's opening season this spring." 

Added Fox Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks: "We're thrilled to have NBC Sports join Fox Sports as an official media partner of the new USFL. Like Fox, NBC has a reputation for excellence in football production, and the exposure both companies have committed to the USFL, including a combined 20 games on broadcast television, will provide fans unprecedented access all season long."

The USFL is the latest pro football league to attempt to compete against the powerful National Football League. The WWE-backed XFL launched in 2020 but cancelled its season the same year due to the pandemic. The XFL was purchased in 2020 by a group including former wrestler and current movie star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and is reported to launch sometime in 2023. ■  

Turner Sports will televise regular and postseason games from the upstart Alliance of American Football League as part of a multi-year distribution agreement between the two parties.

TNT and Turner’s Bleacher Report Live streaming service will air live games from the eight-team league -- which launches the week after Sunday’s (Feb. 3) Super Bowl. TNT will air the Feb. 16 Salt Lake Stallions vs Birmingham Iron game, part of its deal to air one regular season and one playoff game each year during the length of the agreement, according to network officials.

B/R Live will air weekly regular season games, beginning Feb. 23 with the Arizona Hotshots vs. Salt Lake Stallions contest. In addition to live game coverage, all Alliance games distributed through B/R Live will be available on demand, with highlight rights extending across B/R platforms.

Turner Sports joins CBS Sports in distributing Alliance games. CBS broadcast network will air the championship game, while CBS Sports Network will carry at least one game per week.

“We’re looking forward to this exciting partnership with The Alliance – including working closely with its leadership team of Charlie Ebersol, Bill Polian, Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu – and share the enthusiasm and forward-thinking vision being applied to this newly-formed league,” said Lenny Daniels, President of Turner Sports in a statement. “This is a true partnership and The Alliance will have our full support in the distribution of its live game coverage and content across the Turner Sports portfolio.”

The Alliance of American Football will play a 10-week regular season schedule, with a four-team playoff format and a championship game to determine the league’s top team. The league’s inaugural eight teams include: Atlanta Legends, Birmingham Iron, Memphis Express, Orlando Apollos, Arizona Hotshots, Salt Lake Stallions, San Antonio Commanders, and San Diego Fleet. 

WWE chair Vince McMahon will take another shot at scoring on the professional football field with the 2020 relaunch of the XFL pro football league. 

McMahon said Thursday (Jan. 25) during an afternoon press conference that he will look to reshape the XFL -- which ran for one season in 2001 in a joint venture with NBC -- into a new, reimagined format that will be "fan-friendly" and exciting. 

McMahon said the XFL will look to secure traditional network as well as digital distribution, but has yet to secure any deals.

McMahon said the league will listen to experts to help put the best product out on the field.

“We want to give fans more of that they want to see and less of what they don’t want to see,” he said.

McMahon said the eight-team league will be fully-owned by his company Alpha Entertainment and will play from late January into the spring, but would not reveal the cities in which the league will look to field teams.

The league will also feature no crossover talent from McMahon’s WWE franchise.

MCN Flashback: Vince McMahon: WWE's Ringmaster

He added that XFL games will be likely be condensed to two hours -- much quicker than the current three-hour average National Football League games – including the possible elimination of the traditional halftime period.

McMahon also said that the NFL's woes over declining ratings and political controversies did not factor into his decision to relaunch the league. He added that players with crimminal records will not be allowed into the league, and that players will most likely be required to stand during the national anthem.

"It will have nothing to do with politics and social issues ... we want really good football," McMahon said "That’s what we’re going to deliver."

DirecTV is raising the price of its popular NFL Sunday Ticket by between 5% and 7% for the 2015 season, perhaps an effort to help offset some of the estimated $12 billion the satellite TV company paid to keep the out-of-market pro football package exclusive for the next eight years.

DirecTV will raise rates for its basic 2015 Sunday Ticket package – including all out-of-market Sunday NFL games, the Ticket Mix Channel and on-screen stats –5% to $251.94 from $239.94 for the 2014 regular season. Charges for its Sunday Ticket Max Plan – which also The Red Zone Channel, DirecTV Fantasy Channel , the Short Cuts feature and the ability to stream games on multiple devices – rise 7% to $353.94 from $329.94 in the prior year.

News of the price hike was first reported by TV Predictions.com.

DirecTV renewed its Sunday Ticket deal with the National Football League in October, an eight-year deal that was estimated to be worth $12 billion, or about $1.5 billion per year. That’s up from the estimated $1 billion per season DirecTV paid the NFL for the nine-year pact that expired after the 2014 regular season.

Renewing the Sunday Ticket deal was a condition of DirecTV’s pending acquisition by AT&T. That deal is expected to close later in the year.  http://www.multichannel.com/news/technology/consolidation-critics-lay-attdirectv/374637

In a separate announcement, DirecTV said it would add The Longhorn Network to its lineup beginning Jan. 21. The network, devoted 24/7 to The University of Texas, is owned by ESPN. DirecTV said in a statement the agreement to carry the network was part of a larger carriage agreement with ESPN parent, The Walt Disney Co.

Longhorn Network will be available to DirecTV customers in Texas on channel 677 in the Choice package or above, and nationwide for customers who subscribe to the DirecTV Sports Pack. In addition, DirecTV customers who receive LHN as part of their satellite service will soon be able to enjoy the network’s exclusive live events and content via WatchESPN on their computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices – at home or on the go.  DirecTV is expected to offer WatchESPN beginning in late February or early March and will be available on DirecTV Everywhere shortly thereafter.

The Longhorn Network launched in 2011 and televises more than 175 athletic events in 20 sports annually, as well as academic and cultural programming from in and around the greater Austin community. DirecTV customers have access to exclusive Longhorn games, Texas coaches’ shows, dedicated pre- and post-game football coverage, basketball and baseball games, nightly news/information programming, in-depth features and all-access content and programs covering the history and pride of Texas athletics.

It’s been almost seven months since the Seattle Seahawks demolished the Denver Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII, a lifetime for the millions who call pro football their favorite sport and have made National Football League games the most popular TV programming in America.

For those who prefer the collegiate brand of ball, the wait has been even longer: Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston led Florida State on a last-second drive to beat Auburn 34-31 on Jan. 6 and end the Southeastern Conference’s reign as the sport’s champion at seven seasons.

Whether you prefer the pros, the ascendant collegiate game or devote much of your fall and winter weekends to football of any stripe, fresh seasons of pigskin play are about to unfurl in stadiums, living rooms and taverns near you.

New rights deals have already irrevocably altered the TV landscape. College kingpin ESPN has plunked down $470 million per year over 12 years — a total of $5.6 billion — for the rights to a new playoff system that will see four teams vie in semifinal meetings before the winners collide in a game that could draw the largest audience in cable history.

And NFL rights have jumped more than 60% on average. ESPN will present its first-ever NFL playoff game, a Wild Card contest, part of a package for which it will pay $15.2 billion over eight years, or $1.9 billion annually. That’s up from $1.1 billion under the pact that expired with the 2013 season. The playoff game was worth a reported $100 million.

NBC, whose Sunday Night Football has led primetime in viewership the past three years, will sub out a Wild Card game for a divisional matchup. The Peacock, which will also get a chance to benefit from extra flex scheduling early — a pair of games between weeks 5 and 10 can be switched — is now paying $950 million per year from 2014 to 2022, up from $650 million per season under the pact that ended last year.

NBC will culminate the football season with Super Bowl XLIX and a chance to tackle America’s top audience from Fox, which counted a record 111.5 million viewers, despite the Seahawks’ blowout of the Broncos.

After registering its most-viewed season ever in 2013 since it began airing the NFL back in 1994, Fox will see the price of its large-market National Football Conference package jump from $712.5 million to $1.1 billion under its new nineyear pact.

Sunday-afternoon brethren CBS averaged 18.7 million viewers last season, its second-best delivery since it has been airing the American Football Conference package. Black Rock, which will get a chance to augment its audience with a number of cross-flex games bringing NFC matches as means of generating greater overall exposure for the league, is now paying $1 billion per year over the next nine seasons, up from $550 million.

In what could be the biggest shakeup in the primetime landscape since cable started seriously eating into broadcast’s Nielsen ratings, CBS is also stepping onto the Thursday Night Football field.

For a reported $275 million in rights fees, the nation’s most-viewed network will air games during the first half of the season that will be simulcast on NFL Network. The back end of the schedule will feature games produced by CBS that will air on NFL Network and broadcast stations in the participating teams’ home markets.

The NFL is looking to gauge just how big a player it can become on one of TV’s most-watched nights of the week and one favored by Madison Avenue and its studio, auto and retail clients. For CBS, whose comedy lineup has been the dominant force on Thursday for years, it means returning TV’s top sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, to its original Mondaynight roots until late October. That could widen its audience advantage overall and give it a leg up on other bidders should the NFL elect to make this hybrid scheduling format a fixture, or it could offer the entire TNF package to a broadcast network.

Meanwhile, despite repeated proclamations from DirecTV that it expects to retain the “NFL Sunday Ticket” out-of-market package, the satellite-TV leader and the league have yet to renew their deal, which is about to enter the final year under which DirecTV pays $1 billion annually. AT&T reportedly has an out clause in its proposed merger with DirecTV if the satellite-TV provider fails to retain the Ticket.

The league is expanding multiscreen options for fans, Brian Rolapp, NFL Media executive vice president, said. NFL Red Zone, the Sunday-afternoon ad hoc scoring and highlights service, is still growing, adding 20 new providers since January. It enters the 2014 campaign with 250 affiliates.

Accessible across Internet-connected devices, new service NFL Now enables users to identify their favorite team, fantasy players and video content preferences. The plan calls for content to personalize each user’s viewing experience to deliver a customizable news, analysis and highlights offering for NFL fans around the globe. Additionally, NFL Now will provide users with access to a vault of on-demand pro-football video content available anywhere.

NFL Now Plus ups the ante — for $1.99 per month, subscribers can check out instant in-game highlights, plus gain access to the complete NFL Films library, including NFL Network staples America’s Game and A Football Life.

And as part of a reported four-year $1 billion renewal, Verizon’s NFL Mobile package will broaden this season, with subscribers gaining access to more streaming content including in-market games on Sunday afternoon.