FIFA has not yet opened formal bidding for the 2030 Men's World Cup U.S. domestic rights, but three networks are already assembling bid teams. The 2026 tournament—co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada—sits 18 months out, and its ratings trajectory is reshaping how broadcasters value soccer inventory through the next decade.
Fox holds U.S. English-language rights for 2026 under a deal struck in 2011 for roughly $400M. Telemundo holds Spanish-language rights through a separate agreement. Both deals expire after the tournament. FIFA typically opens renewal discussions 12-18 months before a contract lapses, which puts preliminary conversations in motion by late 2024 or early 2025. The 2030 rights, awarded in 2023 to a multi-continent consortium led by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, will command a different pricing model: broadcasters are modeling U.S. audience figures assuming matches in European time zones, not the favorable East Coast windows that 2026's North American venues provide.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup final drew 16.8M U.S. viewers on Fox, a 22% increase over the 2018 final. Telemundo's Spanish-language broadcast added another 9.3M. Media buyers expect the 2026 final—played in MetLife Stadium at 3pm ET on a Sunday in July—to approach 25M combined English and Spanish viewers, near Super Bowl adjacency. That assumption is driving early interest from Amazon and Apple, both of which have approached FIFA informally about carriage structures that bundle streaming rights with linear windows. Neither has bid successfully for a men's World Cup before.
What makes this cycle unusual is the MLS overhang. Apple holds exclusive global MLS rights through 2032 in a deal worth $2.5B over ten years. The league's ratings remain modest—regular-season matches average under 300K viewers on Apple TV—but the World Cup creates a forcing function. Sponsors who commit to FIFA inventory expect year-round soccer storytelling, and Apple's MLS position gives it a structural advantage in assembling a year-round North American soccer bundle that no linear broadcaster can match. Fox and NBC, which holds Premier League rights through 2028 for $2B, are both exploring partnerships with streaming platforms to stay competitive in a format where the bidding unit is no longer a single tournament but a decade of soccer content.
The complication is FIFA's Club World Cup, scheduled for summer 2025 with 32 teams and matches in U.S. venues. FIFA has not yet sold U.S. media rights for that tournament, and the delay is intentional: the federation is using it as a test case for bundling strategies. A network that wins Club World Cup rights at a discount—likely in the $150M-$200M range—positions itself as the incumbent for 2030 World Cup negotiations. Fox declined to bid aggressively on the 2027 Women's World Cup rights, which went to ESPN and Univision in mid-2023, a signal that its focus has shifted entirely to preserving the men's tournament.
The 2026 World Cup will generate between $6B-$7B in total revenue for FIFA, with U.S. media rights representing roughly 30% of that figure. The 2030 domestic rights package is expected to clear $500M, nearly double the 2026 Fox deal, assuming audience delivery meets internal projections. Broadcasters are also watching whether FIFA unbundles digital rights, a move that would allow a platform like YouTube or DAZN to bid on English-language streaming while a traditional network retains linear exclusivity. FIFA tested that structure in smaller markets during the 2022 cycle but has not committed to it for the U.S.
The next formal step is FIFA's release of a request for proposal, expected in Q1 2025. That document will clarify whether the federation is selling 2030 rights in isolation or packaging them with the 2034 World Cup, awarded to Saudi Arabia in a controversial vote last year. If bundled, the deal could approach $1B in total value, but it would require the winning bidder to navigate significant reputational risk around Saudi hosting.
Fox's incumbency is not a lock. The network's sports division has been restructuring since its 2019 sale of entertainment assets to Disney, and its current soccer portfolio is thin outside the World Cup. NBC, by contrast, has spent the last decade building Premier League and Olympic soccer coverage into a year-round operation, and its Peacock streaming platform gives it flexibility that Fox lacks. Amazon has the balance sheet but not the live-sports credibility; its Thursday Night Football package has been operationally smooth but ratings-challenged.
What to watch: FIFA's Club World Cup rights announcement, expected by September 2024, will clarify bundling strategy. Fox's upfront presentation in May 2025 will signal whether it's treating soccer as core or peripheral. The MLS Apple deal includes a performance clause that allows either party to renegotiate after 2025 if viewership targets aren't met; if Apple exits, it weakens its World Cup positioning.
The bidding war is not yet formal, but the phone calls have already started. The winner will be the entity that can answer one question cleanly: what is U.S. soccer worth when the games are in Dallas, not Doha.
The takeaway
2030 World Cup U.S. rights expected to double 2026's **$400M** as Fox, NBC, Apple, and Amazon position for soccer's only **$500M+** broadcast asset.
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