Netflix is paying $258 million for 2027 Women’s World Cup
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Netflix has acquired the rights to show matches in the United States and Canada for both the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments.
PHOTO: AFP
- Netflix paid US$200 million (S$258 million) for the broadcast rights to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in the US and Canada.
- FIFA aims to double revenue for the 2027 Women’s World Cup to about US$1 billion, reflecting growing interest and commercial efforts in women’s sports.
- FIFA has faced criticism over media rights pricing, with recent deals including a major agreement with the European Broadcasting Union for the 2027 tournament.
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Netflix is dishing out US$200 million (S$258 million) for broadcast rights to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, according to people familiar with the deal who were not authorised to speak publicly about the details.
The streaming service had already announced that it acquired the rights to show matches in the United States and Canada for both the 2027 and 2031 tournaments. But the financial details had not been reported until now.
Netflix declined to comment. FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is not clear how much Netflix paid for the 2031 tournament.
FIFA has been trying to boost the monetisation of its tournaments.
The latest push includes a plan to place its commercial interests in an entity and sell off stakes to investors. The backlash to such a move has spanned politicians to UEFA, the governing body of European football.
For the 2023 Women’s World Cup, FIFA separately sold the tournament’s rights for the first time as interest in women’s sports boomed.
FIFA’s annual report for that year showed broadcast rights revenue of roughly US$270 million, which would include media deals for the Women’s World Cup for all markets.
The price Netflix is paying for the 2027 tournament, which will be held in Brazil, makes this one of the biggest media deals on annual basis for a women’s sports property.
The WNBA’s 11-year US$3.1 billion deal is considered the largest and works out to be about US$280 million a year.
For the recent men’s World Cup, Fox paid about US$485 million for the US broadcast rights.
FIFA expects to double revenue for the 2027 Women’s World Cup to about US$1 billion, FIFA chief football officer Jill Ellis said on an episode of The Deal in June.
In 2023, FIFA president Gianni Infantino asked broadcasters to pay a fair price for the media rights for the Women’s World Cup and criticised bids as being too low.
Infantino threatened TV blackouts in European markets in 2023 because broadcasters were refusing to pay more. The European Broadcasting Union finalised an agreement with FIFA just weeks before the tournament kicked off.
The European Broadcasting Union and FIFA have already reached a deal, across 19 public-service broadcasters, to deliver games for the 2027 Women’s World Cup. Financial details have not been disclosed. BLOOMBERG
