FIFA has opened a tender process for the US media rights to the 2030 men's World Cup, with an option for the winning bidder to also secure rights to the 2034 tournament. The governing body will accept bids through November 19 and expects to name a new media partner before year's end.
A combined package, a departure from 2026
The 2030 tournament, co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, will be followed four years later by a World Cup in Saudi Arabia. For this cycle, FIFA says it would prefer to sell English-language and Spanish-language US broadcast rights together to a single partner, rather than splitting them as it did for 2026, when Fox holds English-language rights and Telemundo, part of NBCUniversal, holds Spanish-language rights. FIFA Chief Business Officer Romy Gai said the organization remains open to both a single buyer taking the full package and joint bids pairing a streaming service with a traditional broadcaster.
Streaming giants reportedly circling
According to CNBC, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Disney have all shown earlier interest in bidding. Media executives estimated in July that the combined rights could fetch between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. Notably, FIFA last sold US television rights to a men's World Cup back in 2011, meaning this tender reflects a market that has shifted dramatically toward streaming in the years since.
Time zones and access for US viewers
Scheduling will be a key variable in valuing the rights. Matches in 2030 will be played across Europe and North Africa, while the 2034 tournament in Riyadh will run seven hours ahead of New York time, a gap that could push some games into inconvenient broadcast windows for American audiences. Gai said FIFA still expects matches to be available at a convenient time for US viewers every day of the tournaments. The organization has also indicated that if a streaming platform wins the rights, it intends to guarantee free access to a set number of matches, either through sublicensing arrangements or a free tier of the service.
What happens next
Once the bidding window closes, FIFA representatives plan to hold in-person meetings with US media companies in late November. From there, the organization may narrow the field and request final offers, or it could select a winner without further rounds. No timeline has been given for when a signed agreement might be publicly announced beyond FIFA's stated goal of finalizing a partner by the end of this year.