The US Soccer governing body is expected to finalize an English-language media rights agreement with national media giant Turner Sports and HBO, the premium subscription broadcaster, it has been reported.
Turner and HBO, both owned by WarnerMedia, will replace existing rightsholders ESPN and Fox Sports when their deal expires at the end of the year, according to The Athletic.
ESPN and Fox’s agreement with US Soccer was part of a package negotiated by the federation’s long-time commercial rights partner Soccer United Marketing (SUM) that included media rights for Major League Soccer.
Last May, the national body announced that it was ending its partnership with SUM and would bring its media and marketing rights in-house.
That move brought an end to a near-20-year relationship between the two parties.
Turner will have rights to US Soccer properties, which includes men’s and women’s national team friendlies, the SheBelieves Cup tournament, and US men’s and women’s national team World Cup qualifiers.
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By GlobalDataHowever, as a host country, the US is not expected to play any qualifiers ahead of the 2026 World Cup but world governing body FIFA has not yet officially announced that the country will automatically qualify as one of the three host nations along with Canada and Mexico.
The new media rights deal will not include the men’s or women’s World Cup.
Fox Sports holds rights for the men’s World Cups in 2022 and 2026, and the women’s edition in 2023.
Rights for the Gold Cup national teams competition which features the US are held by continental governing body Concacaf.
It is unclear how US Soccer’s rights will be split between Turner and HBO, but the HBO Max OTT platform may be the streaming home of the federation’s games.
Earlier this week, WorldSoccerTalk reported that WarnerMedia was interested in acquiring all or some of MLS’s media rights.
Warner Media is widely expected to merge with Discovery and launch a new streaming platform. That service would merge HBO Max, Discovery+, and Warner Bros. film properties.
US Soccer is also seeking a new Spanish-language rights deal.
US-based Spanish-language broadcaster Univision has been the Spanish-language partner for both MLS and US Soccer under the current deal, while Telemundo holds the Spanish-language World Cup rights.