ByBrad Adgate
, Contributor.
Comcast has secured the U.S. media rights to the Olympics through the 2036 Summer Games. The cost to … [+]
In the past year Comcast has made significant investments in sports. This encompasses premium sporting events on linear television or Peacock, launching a multi platform sports business unit on CNBC and offering a package of sports/news content for Xfinity subscribers.
In anticipation of their annual upfront presentation to advertisers scheduled for May 12, NBCU’s Chairman, Global Advertising & Partnerships, Mark Marshall noted the plethora of live events (including premium sports) available across Comcast properties in 2025-26.
NBA
Last July it was announced the NBA would be returning to NBC beginning with the 2025-26 season this October. NBC had last carried NBA games in 2002. It was reported that NBCU will be investing $2.5 billion per year as part of an 11-year agreement.
With the new deal, NBC and Peacock will be exclusively airing and/or streaming 100 regular season games starting with an opening night doubleheader. Peacock will stream games every Monday night. On Tuesday nights NBC will televise two games with start times at 8 p.m. (ET) and 8 p.m. (PT). NBC affiliates in Eastern and Central time zones will air the first game with affiliates in the Mountain and Pacific zones airing the later game. Both games will be streamed on Peacock and local stations will have the option to televise both games. Also, at the end of the NFL season, NBC will televise at least eight regular season NBA games.
NBC will also televise at least 22 NBA playoff games and 11 “if necessary” games every season over the first two postseason rounds. Over the 11 years, NBC will televise six conference finals games. NBC (and Telemundo) will televise the annual NBA All-Star along with surrounding events.
As part of the agreement, over 50 WNBA regular season and first round playoff games will be available on NBC, Peacock and USA Network. Also, NBC will televise three WNBA finals (2026, 2030 and 2034) among other postseason rounds.
Olympics
Earlier this month, Comcast and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that the NBC networks has secured the U.S. media rights to the Olympics through the 2036 Summer Games. The cost to add the 2034 and 2036 Olympiads is $3 billion. NBC has been the U.S. home of every Summer Olympics since 1988 and the Winter Olympics since 2002. Now NBCU will now be the U.S. broadcast home for the next six Olympics. Back in 2014, NBCU and the IOC had successfully negotiated an agreement to extend NBC’s Olympic coverage starting in 2022 and running through the 2032 games. Those six Olympics had cost $7.65 billion.
The IOC announced with the extended agreement, Comcast has emerged as a strategic partner and not just a traditional media rights holder. The new partnership will encompass new initiatives between the two partners with an emphasis on Peacock. In a statement, IOC president, Thomas Bach, said, “By partnering with one of the world’s leading media and technology companies, we will ensure that fans in the United States are able to experience the Olympic Games like never before.” Comcast is among the IOC’s largest revenue source.
Looking ahead, the 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Los Angeles will be hosting its third Summer Olympics in 2028. The 2030 Winter Olympics will be in the French Alps. The 2032 Summer Olympics will be held in Brisbane, Australia. The 2034 Winter Olympics will return to Salt Lake City. The location for the 2036 Summer Olympics has not been announced, among the nations that have expressed an interest include India, Qatar, Turkey, Hungary, and Indonesia.
CNBC
Comcast’s expansion of sports is also taking place at business news CNBC. The cable network plans a multifaceted look at the business aspects of sports including interviews, long-form video content, a weekly newsletter written by CNBC media and sports reporter Alex Sherman, live events and weekly podcasts. As part of strategy, CNBC will debut a weekend program called CNBC Sport: On the Record. The program will include interviews of decision makers, team owners, top athletes, executives, investors among with other key personnel in the sports business industry. The half-hour CNBC Sport On the Record will debut on March 29 at 3 p.m. (ET) followed by a second program at 3:30 p.m.
CNBC will also produce long-form sports productions covering the sports and business. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first episode of CNBC’s long-form program will profile NBA superstar Steph Curry and the off-court business activities of his Thirty Ink collective. Furthermore, the initial live event CNBC Sport: Inside the Business of Women’s Basketball is scheduled for April 5 and sponsored by JPMorgan Chase
Max Meyers, CNBC VP & senior executive producer of strategic verticals & audience development said, “In an era where everything is time shifted or time delayed, sports is the one sort of appointment type viewing — that and the live market, by the way — so you have to be engaged. And that has inflated the value of these franchises, and there’s a natural scarcity to them as well.”
MLB
With ESPN opting out their agreement to televise MLB games after the 2025 season, there is speculation that major league baseball could be returning to NBC. Since 1990 ESPN has televised Sunday Night Baseball, the cable network is also home to the Home Run Derby and all postseason wild card games. John Ourand of Puck, reported the MLB has had preliminary talks with NBCU as well as Netflix and Prime Video. The talks however, have centered around 2028, when MLB’s current media rights contract expires.
Front Office Sports notes a Sunday Night Baseball package would complement NBC's top rated Sunday Night Football and their upcoming Sunday night coverage of the NBA. The primary reason ESPN backed out of MLB was the annual rights fee of $550 million was deemed excessive compared to Apple TV ($85 million) and Roku ($10 million). The Wall Street Journal reported ESPN was not willing to spend more than $200 million for the annual rights. It is not known how much NBCU would be willing to spend.
If NBC replaces ESPN, it would mark the return of MLB. The network had televised MLB games from 1947 to 1989 and then again from 1994 to 2000. More recently, Peacock had been streaming early Sunday games in 2022 and 2023.
Comcast Sports & News TV
Earlier this year Comcast launched Sports & News TV. The video package is available to Xfinity Internet subscribers and provides such premium sporting events as the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, English Premier League, NASCAR, PGA golf, Triple Crown horse racing among other sports as well as non-sports content. In total, the package includes over 50 broadcast, cable news and sports networks, a subscription to Peacock, 300-hour cloud DVR storage along with over 100 free streaming channels. The monthly subscription fee is $70. At the end of fourth quarter 2024, Comcast had 12.5 million video subscribers.
Comcast’s foray into sports highlights the importance the genre is now playing in today’s video landscape. Sports on any platform generates subscribers, viewers and advertisers which leads to revenue, making the investment worthwhile. Because premier sporting has become a must-have property Comcast faces strong competition for many other deep pocketed media and digital companies.
