{"id":8346,"date":"2026-07-17T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8346"},"modified":"2026-07-17T06:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:00:12","slug":"espn-chairman-jimmy-pitaro-confirms-interest-in-world-cup-2030-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8346","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro Confirms Interest In World Cup 2030 Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/espn\/\" id=\"auto-tag_espn\" data-tag=\"espn\">ESPN<\/a> chairman <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/jimmy-pitaro\/\" id=\"auto-tag_jimmy-pitaro\" data-tag=\"jimmy-pitaro\">Jimmy Pitaro<\/a> confirmed the <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/disney\/\" id=\"auto-tag_disney\" data-tag=\"disney\">Disney<\/a> division will bid on <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/world-cup\/\" id=\"auto-tag_world-cup\" data-tag=\"world-cup\">World Cup<\/a> rights for the 2030 tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cWe had the World Cup for two decades and it was a big part of ESPN\u2019s identity and DNA,\u201d the exec said during a CNBC-hosted conference Thursday at Fanatics Fest in New York. \u201cOf course we\u2019re interested\u201d in re-acquiring the rights, he continued, adding that ESPN is \u201chyper-competitive\u201d with rivals in rights negotiations. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cThis has been a juggernaut,\u201d Pitaro said. \u201cWe\u2019re not at all surprised by it. If you look at the time zones, the fact that these games are, you know, where they\u2019re taking place around this country. The U.S. did a fantastic job and I\u2019ve been watching it religiously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tWhile many soccer fans and media observers have given Fox a mixed report card compared with ESPN, Pitaro lavished praise on his competitor. \u201cI\u2019ve been very impressed with the way Fox has covered all this,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom a live game production perspective, from a studio perspective, they\u2019ve done an outstanding job. I don\u2019t know, honestly, how they could have done better with the product.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tLanding the World Cup will be costly, of course, given the explosion of ratings and interest. FIFA, which organizes the tournament, has yet to hold formal talks with bidders. The organization has said it plans to expand the field from 48 teams to 64 in 2030, which will only increase the appeal of the tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tFox wound up benefiting financially from a series of complications with the 2022 edition in Qatar, which had to be shifted from summer to fall, meaning it had to jockey with lucrative NFL and college football broadcasts. The company won rights to the 2026 Cup for a song, reportedly just $485 million, which is about what it could take in from hydration break ad revenue alone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tPublished reports in recent days have indicated that the next rights deal could range from $1.5 billion to $2 billion, with Netflix and YouTube said to be in pursuit. Netflix has already <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2024\/12\/netflix-rights-fifa-women-world-cup-1236239167\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1236239167\">secured rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women\u2019s World Cups<\/a> in the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tPitaro hit on a few other topics during the conversation, including working for Disney\u2019s new CEO, Josh D\u2019Amaro, who succeeded Bob Iger earlier this year. Asked whether he has changed ESPN\u2019s mandate, Pitaro replied, \u201cLook, Bob hired me. I worked for Bob. I\u2019ve been at Disney for 16 years, and I\u2019ve been at Bob\u2019s table that entire time. There\u2019s a lot of similarities between Bob and Josh. They\u2019re both very curious. They\u2019re both huge sports fans, which is very good for me, very good for ESPN. What I\u2019ll tell you about Josh is he\u2019s very thoughtful. He\u2019s very calm. He\u2019s curious. He\u2019s asking all the right questions. He\u2019s a fast learner. Like I said, he\u2019s passionate about what we\u2019re doing, and he does see ESPN as a critical component of the Disney strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tCompared with many rivals with direct-to-consumer streaming, he added, \u201cone of the differentiators at Disney is ESPN.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tAs to the NFL, which now has a <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/02\/nfl-espn-disney-close-deal-1236705021\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1236705021\">10% stake in ESPN<\/a> thanks to a recent deal swapping the league\u2019s media assets for an equity position, Pitaro didn\u2019t get explicit about extending the current rights deal but said the relationship is \u201cin a great place.\u201d Like other media partners, ESPN and Disney are being asked to pay additional rights fees to the NFL under a clause in the 11-year rights agreements that took effect in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tPitaro noted that ESPN will carry its first Super Bowl next February, with ABC airing it in a simulcast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tAsked whether re-upping with the NFL might mean a slim-down of overall rights as the company manages escalating rights fees, the ESPN chairman said the company has \u201cnever had better rights\u201d in its 47-year history. That said, he added, \u201cWe look at it holistically. So yes, to answer your question, there is some give and take there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro confirmed the Disney division will bid on World Cup rights for the 2030 tournament. \u201cWe had the World Cup for two decades and it was a big part of ESPN\u2019s identity and DNA,\u201d the exec said during a CNBC-hosted conference Thursday at Fanatics Fest in New York. \u201cOf course we\u2019re interested\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ESPN-Chairman-Jimmy-Pitaro.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}