FIFA opening up separate bids for Women’s World Cup media rights

Women’s sports are experiencing an unprecedented boom period and soccer is no exception. The global game is growing rapidly around the world and FIFA is looking to capitalize for upcoming editions of the Women’s World Cup.

For the first time, FIFA is unbundling media rights for the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups taking place in Brazil and the United States respectively.

Fox’s current deal for the men’s World Cup ends after the 2026 tournament, which means both men’s and women’s tournaments will be on the market separately.

Via FIFA:

FIFA has officially launched the invitation to tender (ITT) for the media rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027™ and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031™ in the United States and Puerto Rico. This represents the first time that the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be sold in the USA on a standalone basis. The tender process is primarily focused on the 2027 edition. However, interested parties are invited to submit an additional offer for the rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031 (host to be confirmed).

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is the biggest female-only sporting event in the world. The 2027 edition will be held in Brazil with 32 teams competing in at least eight host cities representing different regions of the country. The tournament is shaping up to be the greatest yet, with the USA once again among the favourites after winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where 2027 hosts Brazil took home silver.

It’s the opposite approach to the NBA, which chose to keep NBA and WNBA rights bundled together even though some analysts thought the WNBA could earn more in media rights on their own.

Fox has held onto World Cup rights ever since winning the contract away from ESPN after the 2014 men’s World Cup. While Fox has been FIFA’s lead broadcaster, soccer rights have exploded and expanded across the sporting landscape with seemingly every network involved in the world game in some capacity.

Currently, Warner Bros. Discovery has USA Soccer games, Fox broadcasts FIFA, UEFA, and CONCACAF international contests, NBC hosts the Premier League, ESPN still has contracts with La Liga and the Bundesliga, and CBS televises the Champions League. That’s probably an incomplete list, but you get the picture.

With both the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups being in very USA-friendly timezones, and the increasing popularity of women’s sports, both tournaments will be hotly contested on the open market. Storyline-wise, the USWNT will be looking to bounce back after a disastrous 2023 tournament when they were shockingly knocked out in the Round of 16. With Spain’s victory and the competitive rise for many nations, the 2027 tournament should be the most competitive ever.

The separation of rights will definitely open up the bidding to a number of interested parties. It would not be a surprise to see everyone including WBD, ESPN, NBC, CBS, and Fox take a serious look at Women’s World Cup rights as a standalone product.

[FIFA]