The CW Looking to Add More Live Sports Rights After Success of LIV Golf; Are Pac-12, NBA Rights Bids Coming?
After landing the domestic broadcast rights to the controversial, upstart LIV Golf tour, Nexstar Media Group is looking to add even more live sports rights according to the company’s CEO Perry Sook.
At this week’s SVB MoffettNathanson Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, Sook touted the success of LIV, noting that local CW affiliates owned by Nexstar were completely supportive of adding the golf league to their programming lineup. LIV Golf is backed by the Saudi Arabian government, whose ties to global terrorism, human rights violations, and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have made most traditional sports broadcasting partners leery of doing business with the tour. But according to Sook, those issues were less important to affiliates than the prospect of securing more live sports rights.
“At the local level, this is selling like gangbusters,” Sook said. “Car dealers are not deeply involved in national or international geopolitical conversations. They want to move product. This is [televised] sports. They’re all in.”
The CW agreed to terms on a deal with LIV in January 2023. Because of the success of LIV on The CW, Sook says his company has now spoken to “everybody” about the potential of bringing even more live sports to its affiliates. He specifically mentioned the Power 5 NCAA conferences, as well as the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), as sports he could foresee Nexstar doing business with in the future.
There is one Power 5 conference in particular that is in increasingly desperate need of a broadcasting partner: the Pac-12. That conference’s rights are currently held by FOX and ESPN, but the latter network recently decided not to pursue the top package of football rights from the Pac-12 for its next broadcasting deal. It has been reported that the conference is unlikely to find a partner willing to televise more than 50% of its games, either in the form of a traditional broadcaster like NBC or a streamer like Apple TV+.
If Nexstar could get a good price on Pac-12 rights, it could be a natural fit. CW affiliates are available in 100% of the most important media markets around the country, and a potential deal between the two sides could come together quickly, even in the next few weeks. The Pac-12 is fast running out of options, and though it may not get the $31.6 million per school it is reportedly seeking from Nexstar, it may have to make compromises in order to get its games on TV.
There’s also a chance that Nexstar could look into NBA rights for The CW. The NBA’s national and local broadcasting rights come up for sale after the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, and outlets like Warner Bros. Discovery — which currently holds a package of NBA games — NBC, Apple, and Amazon have all shown interest. There’s little chance Nexstar could outbid bigger, legacy media companies for comprehensive NBA rights, but it could invest in a smaller package of games if it thinks its viewers would respond.
Live sports are a big draw for any video source that hosts them, but Nexstar and The CW might be investing in linear sports at exactly the wrong time. Disney has reportedly begun negotiations with cable and satellite providers, as well as major sports leagues to begin offering ESPN as a streaming option, without the need for a cable subscription. That product is still likely years away from launching, but when it does it could fundamentally alter the entire business of sports broadcasting.