NFL punts on fee hike; League likely to keep current TV network deal through 2005.(Brief Article)

Advertising Age, October, 2001 by Goetzl, David

Mindful that the economic climate has forced TV networks into the red zone, the National Football League almost certainly won't exercise an option allowing it to renegotiate mid-contract the massive fees the networks pay to carry its games.

Under an eight-year, $18.3 billion deal signed in 1998, the NFL secured the right from networks ABC, CBS, Fox and ESPN to opt out of the agreement after five years (after the 2002 season) and try to enlarge the largest deal in sports TV history. At the time, the networks agreed to have no say in the matter, in part because CBS was doing what it could to replace NBC in the NFL's lineup of broadcast partners and ESPN wanted to muscle out TNT.

But in a sign of just how weak the ad climate has become and how much major...

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