By GRAHAM DUNBAR | Associated Press
GENEVA — FIFA has signed Netflix to a United States broadcast deal for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil plus the 2031 edition that could be played in the U.S.
The deal announced Friday is the most significant FIFA has signed with a streaming service for a major tournament. The value was not given, though international competitions in women’s soccer have struggled to draw high-value offers.
World Cups are typically broadcast on free-to-air public networks to reach the biggest audiences, and the last women’s edition in 2023 earned FIFA less than 10% of the men’s 2022 World Cup.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino had publicly criticized public broadcasters, especially in Europe, for undervaluing offers to broadcast the 2023 tournament that was played in Australia and New Zealand. That tournament was broadcast by Fox in the U.S.
“This agreement sends a strong message about the real value of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the global women’s game,” Infantino said Friday in a statement.
FIFA will likely use the Netflix deal to drive talks with European broadcasters that likely will be hardball negotiations.
Soccer finance expert Kieran Maguire, a co-host of The Price of Football podcast, suggested the deal was “a bit of a gamble” for FIFA and “saber-rattling” by Infantino.
“(Netflix) get experience of football broadcasting, FIFA can say, ‘we are now partnering with a blue chip organization, so watch out you nasty Europeans,’” Maguire, an academic at the University of Liverpool, said in a telephone interview.
FIFA and Infantino also want to raise the price of broadcast deals to help fund increased prize money and close the gender pay gap on the men’s World Cup.
At the men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 32 team federations shared $440 million in prize money. For the women’s 2023 tournament, FIFA had a $152 million total fund for prize money, contributions to teams’ preparation costs and payments to players’ clubs.
In FIFA’s financial accounts for 2023, the soccer body reported total broadcasting revenue of $244 million. In the year of the men’s 2022 World Cup it was almost $2.9 billion.
The next Women’s World Cup will be a 32-team, 64-game tournament in 2027, played in Brazil from June 24-July 25. The U.S. originally bid jointly with Mexico.
The 2031 host has not been decided, though the U.S. likely will bid for a tournament which FIFA is expected to try to expand to 48 teams. That would match the size of the 104-game format of the men’s World Cup that debuts in 2026 in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Spain won the 2023 Women’s World Cup after the U.S. won the two previous titles — in France in 2019 and Canada in 2015.
“Bringing this iconic tournament to Netflix isn’t just about streaming matches,” its chief content officer Bela Bajaria said, “it’s also about celebrating the players, the culture and the passion driving the global rise of women’s sport.”
Netflix dipped into live sports last month with more than 60 million households watching a heavily hyped boxing match between retired heavyweight legend Mike Tyson and social media personality Jake Paul. Some viewers reported streaming problems, however.
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More than 25 million viewers in the U.S. watched the 2015 World Cup final, a 5-2 win over Japan, played in Vancouver, Canada, in a time zone similarly favorable to Brazil.
Netflix also will broadcast two NFL games on Christmas Day: the Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans. That’s part of a three-year deal announced in May.
FIFA tried to sign Apple+ to an exclusive global deal to broadcast the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup which is being played in 11 U.S. cities next June and July.
Broadcast networks showed little interest in the FIFA club event that will now be broadcast for free on streaming service DAZN, which is building closer business ties to Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of the next Women’s World Cup, Netflix will “produce exclusive documentary series in the lead-up to both tournaments, spotlighting the world’s top players, their journeys and the global growth of women’s football,” FIFA said.
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