With a new NFL media rights deal potentially on the horizon, new bidders on the outside looking in are likely to make their pitch to be brought into the football family. 

To do so, the offers need to be quite lucrative. 

The NFL reportedly had a fall timeframe to complete a new media rights deal, but John Ourand of Puck reported earlier this month that it is now believed the league wants it done before Week 1 in September. The league technically can’t exit the current media rights deals until after the 2029 season, but there isn’t expected to be any opposition to getting something new done with its partners. 

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With additional media partners potentially entering the fold in this potential new deal, as well as the incumbents like FOX, CBS and NBC, the NFL should see more than its roughly $10 billion per year.

But one former NFL Pro Bowler believes these streaming services trying to jump one another to acquire rights to the most profitable professional sports league in the U.S. will need to find ways to team up themselves.

“There’s all kinds of FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) services and all different ways to distribute,” ex-NFL linebacker Shawne Merriman said on “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich.” “The NFL is working heavy in their FAST channels distributing out to Pluto and Amazon Freevee, YouTube. This thing is not gonna stop and what will happen is it’ll become a bidding war. And what we’re gonna see over time, because NFL rights are getting so expensive, is bundling. 

EX-NFL STAR CAUTIONS LEAGUE ABOUT ‘GIVING FANS TOO MUCH’ AS THANKSGIVING EVE GAME REPORTEDLY EYED

“These networks are gonna be bundling up – YouTube with a TikTok. There’s gonna have to be a lot of that because these NFL rights are going to be so damn expensive, these streaming services are going to have to figure it out.”

If that happens, the question then becomes how does it impact the NFL consumer? 

The FCC said last month it would seek public comment about the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services, which includes the other major sports leagues in the country like the NBA, MLB and more. For the NFL specifically, to catch every ounce of action throughout the 2025 season, fans had to pay at least $575, with some spending nearly $800.

Shawne Merriman #56 of the San Diego Chargers walks on the sideline in the game against the Seattle Seahawks on Aug. 15, 2009 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

NFL Sunday Ticket’s new subscribers had to pay $276 for the season, but existing customers with a YouTube TV membership had to fork over $378. With no membership to YouTube TV, it was $480. Then, the primetime slots went to different streaming platforms like Netflix ($7.99 for cheapest subscription), ESPN’s new streaming service to only include live sports ($29.99), and Peacock’s “Premium” membership ($10.99) to watch “Sunday Night Football.”

In total for streaming, ESPN cost $179.94, Peacock was $54.95 , Amazon Prime Video was $35.96, and NFL+ was $20.97. Add it all up for new Sunday Ticket subscribers, and the 2025 NFL season cost for those fans was $575.81. If you were an existing Sunday Ticket subscriber without YouTube TV, it cost $779.81.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell noted that negotiations for a new media rights deal won’t happen until the NFL Players’ Association votes in a new executive director. 

And to finish with food for thought: Ourand also noted in a newsletter last month that streamers will be getting the larger chunk of the NFL media rights pie.

Shawne Merriman attends Warner Bros. Pictures And Gravity Pictures’ Premiere of ‘The Meg’ at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on Aug. 6, 2018 in Hollywood, California.  (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

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“That model would likely include five games each, including four international games the league took back from NFL Network and the two Christmas Day games that Netflix currently has for one more year,” Ourand wrote. 

As Merriman put it, “The NFL is smart. They’re gonna make the most money they possibly can.” 

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Aryna Sabalenka roared past Linda Noskova on Friday to book an Indian Wells title showdown with Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina.

Sabalenka beat 14th-ranked Czech Noskova 6-3, 6-4 and Rybakina downed Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-4 to set up a mouth-watering rematch of their Melbourne final.

Rybakina also beat Sabalenka in the 2023 championship match in Indian Wells — where the Belarusian star has come up empty in two prior trips to the final.

“I want that match,” said Sabalenka, who has been in imperious form in the California desert this year.

She fired 37 winners with 11 aces, applying relentless pressure from the baseline in a commanding win over Noskova.

She broke the big-serving Czech twice as she powered to a 5-1 lead in the opening set.

There was a hiccup as she tried to serve out the set, and Sabalenka, who had lost just one point in her first three service games, was broken.

Noskova kept the set alive with a battling hold in a marathon eighth game, fending off a set point with a service winner and sealing the game with an ace.

Serving for the set again, Sabalenka opened with a double fault and went down 0-30, but a pair of big serves and a backhand winner brought her to set point, and she claimed it with an ace.

Sabalenka broke Noskova to open the second and was on her way. Noskova fended off a second break, but she was unable to convert a break opportunity in the eighth game as Sabalenka brought it home, capping the victory with a forehand winner on her third match point.

“I think I really played great tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I was serving well. I was playing well. I like the way I put her under pressure on her serve.”

Rybakina, who is set to rise one spot to number two in the world on Monday, had too much firepower for ninth-ranked Svitolina, who was coming off a three-set win over two-time champion Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals.

Rybakina recouped an early break in a tight first set and seized control with a break for 6-5, her steady pressure on Svitolina’s serve provoking too many mistakes from the Ukrainian.

Top-10 streak

Rybakina won seven straight games from 4-5 down in the first, breaking Svitolina twice on the way to a 4-0 lead in the second set.

The experienced Svitolina made her keep grinding, saving a match point on her own serve then saving another on the way to a break for 5-3 as she won three straight games.

But Rybakina made no mistake as she served for the match a second time, nabbing her 12th straight victory over top-10 opponents.

“Not, maybe, my best performance, but I’m super happy to win this match and be in the final again,” Rybakina said.

Although she trails Sabalenka 8-7 in their career head-to-head, she has won their last two meetings, in the title match of last year’s WTA Finals and at the Australian Open — where she claimed her second Grand Slam crown.

Despite those recent successes Rybakina was expecting a battle on Sunday.

“We played so many times, and I think it all depends on close moments, which we usually have — whoever steps in, plays more aggressive, more solid,” Rybakina said. “It’s going to be a difficult match.

“We’re both going to try to serve well, that’s for sure, put pressure… we will see what’s going to happen.”

For the third time in less than a month, Americans have crushed Canadian sports dreams on the world stage.

After dramatic victories over Canada in both the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey gold medal games, Team USA defeated Canada in the 2026 World Baseball Classic quarterfinals, 5-3. 

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Behind a strong start from US pitcher Logan Webb and timely hitting throughout the lineup, the Americans struck early and then held on as Canada mounted a sixth-inning comeback attempt at Daikin Park.

The U.S. jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning, with RBIs by Kyle Schwarber, Alex Bregman, Brice Turange and Pete Crow-Armstrong. But Canada got right back in the game in the bottom of the sixth, with an RBI single by Tyler Black and two-run homer by Bo Naylor. 

The Canadians had a sure chance to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, with two men on and no outs, but they failed to score after a popout and then two strikeouts. 

Edouard Julien #15 of Team Canada slides to second base against Brice Turang #13 of Team United States during the fifth inning at Daikin Park on March 13, 2026, in Houston, Texas.  (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

Reliver Mason Miller closed the game out for the U.S. in the ninth inning.

The U.S. now advances to the semifinal round against the Dominican Republic and Canada will have to bask in another bitter loss to the U.S. in a major international tournament, amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between the countries. 

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Team USA manager Mark DeRosa revealed that USA hockey hero Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal in the gold medal game against Canada at the Olympics, reached out to the American baseball players before Friday’s game. 

Jack Hughes celebrates with the American flag after scoring Team USA’s second goal in overtime to win gold on Feb. 22, 2026. (REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo)

“Jack Hughes sent the boys a nice little fire-up message that I put out on their group chat,” DeRosa said during a Thursday press conference ahead of the game.

“I know there are some talks about some hockey jerseys being sent in tomorrow for the guys to wear during BP or out and about in the clubhouse.”

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