There is no doubt the value of having the world’s most popular game’s most popular tournament, the World Cup, on your television network. ESPN realized that in 2014, the last time the network alongside ABC, hosted the tournament. Over one billion people tuned in. In fact, 1.013 billion people watched at least one minute of the Final match between Germany and Argentina.
That’s billion, with a big, fat ‘B’. So it’s no wonder that ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro would be beyond interested in bidding for the next FIFA World Cup rights that would be available, which is 2030.
“Absolutely,” Pitaro said in an interview with Richard Deitsch. “Hard stop. Without any reservations.”
Pitaro continued by saying he’d go for the 2026 World Cup if he could have. FOX retained those rights when FIFA shockingly announced in 2015 that they’d extend the partnership with the network beyond the already secured 2018 and 2022 tournament. It was an early declaration that essentially iced-out any competitive bidding process. FIFA would later admit they did so to avoid a possible lawsuit from FOX in the event the 2022 World Cup would have to be rescheduled. This year’s World Cup was rescheduled to November-December to avoid the brutal heat in Qatar.
“If the rights were coming up for the (2026) World Cup, I would say the same thing,” Pitaro continued. “It’s a fantastic game and (ESPN president of programming and original content) Burke Magnus’ group has done a fantastic job at acquiring really great international rights that have moved the needle for ESPN+ and really helped us get to where we are right now. I think soccer is part of the identity today of ESPN. If you’re a soccer fan now, you pretty much have to have ESPN+. Yeah, we’re all in on the sport. So the answer to your question is yes. Whenever they’re ready to talk, we’re ready to sit down with them.”
ESPN currently has rights to other soccer leagues such as La Liga, Bundesliga and the Eredivise. ESPN also holds select U.S. national team rights.
The network made the worldwide television audience take notice and earned effusive praise in 2010. That year’s studio coverage originated, from the first time, entirely from South Africa, the host country.
