RTL Secures NFL With Super Bowl Through 2028
RTL Deutschland is the new broadcasting home of the U.S. National Football League (NFL) and the famous Super Bowl, through 2028. The exclusive free-TV partnership includes up to three live games per week on RTL and Nitro, plus an additional weekly exclusive game on RTL+. Also, comprehensive coverage throughout the season and the Super Bowl as a highlight.
RTL Deutschland is the new broadcasting home of the U.S. National Football League (NFL) and the famous Super Bowl, through 2028. The exclusive free-TV partnership includes up to three live games per week on RTL and Nitro, plus an additional weekly exclusive game on RTL+. Also, comprehensive coverage throughout the season and the Super Bowl as a highlight.
RTL Deutschland continues to invest in strengthening its content business and has concluded an extensive partnership with America’s National Football League, the NFL. The comprehensive rights deal gives the Cologne-based Bertelsmann subsidiary the live broadcast rights on free TV and RTL+ for five seasons of weekly live league games - including the Super Bowl and the “Germany Game,” a game that will be played in Germany. The agreement is valid from next year until 2028 for the entire German-speaking region plus Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.
According to RTL, among 14- to 49-year-old viewers, American football is the most popular sport on German TV after soccer. Germany is the NFL’s most important growth market. The partnership between RTL Deutschland and the NFL is also designed to further popularize the sport in Germany. RTL Germany will use its collective reach across all media genres from TV to audio, from digital to print, to tap new target groups for its coverage.
Starting with the 2023/24 season, RTL and Nitro will be the NFL’s exclusive free-TV partners in Germany. In addition, one game a week will be shown exclusively on RTL+. Between September and February of each season, football fans can look forward to around 80 live broadcasts. The agreement covers the draft in April, the preseason and regular season, the entire playoffs, and the international mega sporting event of the year, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl with its enormous worldwide fan interest and legendary halftime shows. The substantial sports rights package will be complemented by extensive highlight and background coverage across all platforms. Additional content offers such as special NFL formats for children are also planned.
The NFL rights acquisition is part of RTL Deutschland’s strategy to achieve additional growth by expanding its content portfolio in both linear TV and streaming. Sports is a central component of this. RTL also holds an extensive rights package to the matches of the German national soccer team, the full rights to the European Cup competitions “UEFA Europa League” and “UEFA Europa Conference League,” and a major motorsports package including selected Formula 1 races and the 24-hour races from Le Mans and Nürburgring.
“By acquiring the NFL rights, we are effectively strengthening our programs for many years to come; this goes for RTL as well as for Nitro and our fast-growing streaming offering RTL+,” says Henning Tewes, Managing Director RTL Television and Chief Content Officer RTL Deutschland. “This investment underscores our ambition to remain Germany’s leading broadcasting group in the target group preferred by advertisers. Our viewers can look forward to highly attractive live sports from the USA. In the NFL, we have a highly professional partner who is also focused on growth. We very much look forward to working with the world’s most successful professional league.”
Stephan Schmitter, Managing Director RTL News and Chief Journalistic Content Officer RTL Deutschland, adds: “The NFL fits perfectly into our diversified live sports lineup. According to a recent AGF study, American football, and especially the NFL, is the second most popular TV sport among viewers aged 14 to 49. We are delighted to become the new home of the NFL - on free TV, on RTL+ and on many other of our offerings. We are the leading media company in Germany across all genres, and we will leverage this cross-media clout. Fans can look forward to first-class coverage, with the best football experts both behind and in front of the camera.”
Sameer Pabari, Managing Director, International Media at the National Football League (NFL), commented: “We are delighted for German NFL fans that NFL content will be available on more platforms than ever before via RTL from the 2023/2024 season. In RTL, we have a new partner who is committed to developing American football in the German-speaking world with a cross-platform approach that includes free-to-air TV, streaming offerings, digital content, and audio coverage. In this new partnership, RTL will play a key role in helping the NFL make football more accessible and widely available, and provide new and existing NFL fans with the kind of coverage that will further deepen their connection to the sport.”
The National Football League (NFL) is one of the world’s best-known sports leagues. The NFL currently unites a total of 32 American football teams in the USA in a single league. The highlight of its season is the Super Bowl, in which the champion is determined in a playoff game at the end of the season. The mixture of sports and entertainment has made the Super Bowl the world’s most-watched sporting event. The NFL season opener takes place every year after the preseason in September. The NFL has held regular-season games outside the United States since 2007 and will host a record five international games this season, including in the United Kingdom and Mexico. The first NFL season game on German soil will be played at Munich’s Allianz Arena. It kicks off on November 13, 2022, at 3:30 p.m. local time. The Seattle Seahawks from the NFC West will face the two-time Super Bowl winners and current NFC South champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – led by quarterback Tom Brady. Along with Munich, Frankfurt was selected by the NFL as the site that will host regular NFL season games in Germany over the next four years.
