TV hammer: RTL secures NFL rights – ProSieben goes away empty-handed after more than ten years

Created: 06/09/2022, 16:18

By: Christoph Klaucke

RTL secures TV rights for the NFL.

© Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire/Imago

RTL outperforms ProSieben: The Cologne-based broadcaster will be broadcasting the NFL from the coming season - and will replace its competitor after more than ten years.

Cologne – A lot will change for football fans in Germany next year.

The National Football League (NFL) will be shown in a new TV slot starting in 2023.

The RTL Group secured an extensive rights package from the American professional league NFL, replacing ProSieben after more than ten years.

According to the Cologne broadcaster, the contract is valid from the 2023/24 season for a total of five seasons until 2028. DAZN will also continue to hold broadcasting rights.

NFL: RTL secures TV rights for National Football League

According to the broadcaster group, it offers around 80 live broadcasts per season, including the play-offs, the Super Bowl and the games in Munich and Frankfurt, which can be seen on the free channels RTL and Nitro as well as on the paid Internet service RTL+ will.

"The lush sports rights package is supplemented by extensive highlight and framework reporting across all platforms," ​​said a statement on Tuesday.

"With the acquisition of the NFL rights, we are strengthening our programs for many years to come," commented RTL Managing Director Henning Tewes.

The message goes on to say: “After football, American football is the most popular sport in Germany among 14 to 49-year-olds.”

RTL is thus expanding its range of sports.

The broadcasting group also holds an extensive rights package for the games of the German national soccer team, the full rights to the European cup competitions UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League as well as a larger motor sports package, for example with four Formula 1 races and the 24-hour race Le Mans and from the Nürburgring.

NFL rights: ProSieben is left empty-handed after more than ten years

This is a heavy blow for ProSiebenSat.1.

The media company had achieved great ratings success with American football on several broadcasters in recent years and developed a young regular audience.

After the last Super Bowl on ARD, the broadcaster Sat.1, which was initially responsible, reached 0.87 million people in February 2012: The number of viewers then more than doubled.

An average of 1.84 million people watched the final on ProSieben in mid-February.

The market shares of the NFL broadcasts at ProSieben and the sister station ProSiebenMaxx increased, especially in the target group of 14 to 49 year olds, which is important from an advertising point of view.