Married . . . With the NFL : Television: Fox outbids CBS for NFC games. NBC could knock CBS out of the picture.

NFL football without Pat Summerall and John Madden? Without Greg Gumbel and Terry Bradshaw?

CBS is on the brink of losing pro football after being outbid by Fox Television for the NFC package beginning next season.

Sources said Fox’s bid was $100 million more than the CBS bid.

Also, a New York source said that CBS has submitted a bid for the rights to the AFC package, which NBC now owns, but NBC has 72 hours to match that bid, and if it does, CBS is left without pro football for the first time since the 1950s.

But NBC, which has the NBA and a heavier sports inventory than CBS, might be more willing to give up NFL football.

Dick Ebersol, NBC sports president, said during a session with sports television writers before last January’s Super Bowl in Pasadena that his network was prepared to walk away from NFL football.

“If we don’t think we can make a profit in our next NFL arrangement, we won’t be in it, period,” he said. “We will negotiate and force lower rights fees or we will get out, because nobody can afford this kind of money. We’re not a charity.”

NFL spokesman Joe Browne confirmed the Fox deal Friday night, but would not say how much Fox paid for the package.

“We can confirm that Fox has the NFC package on a multiyear contract,” Browne said. “We expect to have further announcements regarding the remainder of the 1994 TV package in the next couple of days.”

The NFC contract has been the most lucrative because it includes more major broadcast markets than the AFC. Among the cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas and Washington. CBS has also been helped by the fact that NFC teams have won the last nine Super Bowls.

The Fox Television network started in 1987 with a nucleus of seven stations, built from independent outlets and relying heavily on cable systems.

“The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers” was its first show, starting in October of 1986. Fox moved into Sunday prime time with “Married . . . With Children” and later added “The Simpsons” and “In Living Color.”

Fox then expanded with a stable of generally youth-oriented programming, including “Beverly Hills 90210” and “21 Jump Street.” It now programs in 15 of the 22 prime-time hours and reaches more than 90% of the country.

Television contracts between pro football and CBS, NBC, ABC, TNT and ESPN--all negotiated at pre-recession prices--will expire at the end of this season. Negotiations have been ongoing since September.

CBS spokeswoman Susan Kerr, reached at her home, said the network had no comment.

Betsy Hoffman, vice president of publicity at Fox network, also declined to comment.

The NFL had been vigorously negotiating deals to replace the package that generated $3.652 billion from CBS, NBC, ABC, TNT and ESPN. In the current cost-cutting environment, network sources had predicted that new deals would be worth no more than 75% of the expiring agreements.

CBS paid $1.06 billion for the NFC package. TNT and ESPN, which split the Sunday night package, paid $450 million apiece for those rights.

Ebersol has said NBC will end up losing $88 million on NFL football this season, the final year of its $767-million contract. He also said the three major networks will lose more than $200 million on football this season.

Other estimates have increased that figure to $300 million.

ABC Sports President Dennis Swanson, whose network paid $925 million for Monday night games, echoed that position.

“We lost money on the present contract, and we’d like to change that,” he said. “We never want to make a deal that loses money because that’s not the business we’re in.”

Despite the complaints from executives such as Ebersol and Swanson, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has maintained that the NFL television package remains a valuable commodity. According to league research, the league has 185 million viewers and one in three Americans watches more than one game per weekend.

“We’re in the strongest position of any sport in terms of television,” Tagliabue said.

However, having its most attractive package, the NFC, not on a major network would be a step backward, because Fox’s penetration is not as great as CBS’ 99%.

The NFL got more money from Fox, but if it loses CBS or NBC, it might lose a considerable amount of prestige.

The NFL, since “Monday Night Football” began on ABC in 1970, has always been able to say it is the one sport on all three major networks. Next season, it appears it won’t be able to make that claim.

Material from the Associated Press is included in this story.