“Two years of success broadcasting England’s Premier League proved a basic truth to NBC Sports: It would have to pay a lot more to keep carrying the league’s games. Now it will. Under a six-year agreement announced Monday that starts next season and is worth about $1 billion, NBC retained the rights to the Premier League through the 2021-22 season. NBC will pay steeply more for the package starting next season — the new rights fee basically doubles the annual cost of NBC’s current, three-year $250 million contract — but its willingness to do so was an acknowledgment of how the globally popular league has come to redefine NBC’s sports cable network, NBCSN, and also of the value NBC sees in Americans’ growing appetite for top-shelf European soccer.” NY Times
Live and Kicking: Soccer Games to Watch This Week
“As you settle in for another week of soccer viewing in your comfiest chair, spare a moment to think about the soon-to-be-weary legs of the players at Barcelona, which will soon be the latest victim of the club’s success. The soccer editor Andrew Das tells you what to watch.” NY Times
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