Global sports media rights value reaches record $65.8 billion in 2026

LONDON, Oct 14 - The global value of sports media rights reached a record $65.82 billion in 2026, up 15% on 2025, according to the SportBusiness Global Media Report 2026 published on Wednesday.

• Two major sporting events took place in 2026- the soccer World Cup in North America and the Winter Olympics.

• The report forecasts the global value of sports media rights will drop to $62.2 billion in 2027. Compared with the $62.4 billion value in 2024, the year of the summer Olympics in Paris, the two-year growth has been 5%, the annual report said.

• The US holds much of the global media rights value and now takes up 53.9% of the global total, against 46% in 2022. Europe's five biggest markets are together worth a third of the US value.

• American sports, most notably the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, account for 30% of all the global media rights value between them. The English Premier League accounts for 7.8%, the report said. REUTERS