NFL TV Package Hits $3.637 Billion

The NFL’s new four-year television contract was all but completed Friday when NBC agreed to pay $752 million for the AFC games plus the 1993 Super Bowl.

All that remains are the rights to the 1994 Super Bowl, which will not be awarded until later--within a year.

The NBC deal raised the total revenue from all three networks and cable to $3.637 billion. Add another $40 million, which the ’94 Super Bowl is expected to bring, and the total is $3.677 billion.

That breaks down to $32.8 million a team a year, or nearly double the $17 million each club was making under the old contract, which was worth $1.428 billion over three years.

Turner Broadcasting, which made its deal two weeks ago, will pay $450 million for Sunday night football during the first half of the next four seasons. ESPN will pay another $450 million for Sunday night football during the second half of the same seasons.

ABC will pay $925 million for Monday night football, two Saturday first-round playoff games under an expanded format and the 1991 Super Bowl.

CBS will pay $1.06 billion for the NFC package plus the 1992 Super Bowl. CBS is also paying $1.06 billion for baseball over the next four years.

CBS’ football tab is higher than NBC’s because the NFC has most of the larger markets and, thus, generates higher ratings. Although New York and Los Angeles have teams in both conferences, the NFC also has Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Detroit and Philadelphia.

One way the NFL increased its total value to television was to boost the number of playoff teams from 10 to 12, thus creating two additional playoff games for ABC to televise.

Another was to extend the season. There will be 16 games over 17 weeks the next two seasons, then 16 over 18 weeks after that.

The NFL also brought in a new cable partner, Turner, creating a new package.

The new television contract will be ratified at the owners’ meeting next week in Orlando, Fla.

Departing from previous practice, the NFL announced each deal separately this time. In the past, the league waited until all negotiations were completed before making one announcement.

The new total package is viewed both in league and network circles as a triumph for Paul Tagliabue, the new commissioner, who negotiated it along with Art Modell, the owner of the Cleveland Browns and chairman of the television committee, and Val Pinchbeck, the league’s director of broadcasting.

Pete Rozelle, former commissioner, also is credited with an assist for limiting the 1987 contract, negotiated in a time of network retrenchment, to three years.

“The magnitude of this new agreement reflects the NFL’s importance to NBC,” network Vice President Arthur Watson said. “Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Art Modell and Val Pinchbeck should be congratulated.”

Another network official, who asked not to be identified, put it more bluntly: “They certainly didn’t leave any money on the table.”