Netflix, Disney, YouTube Vie for 2030 & 2034 World Cup U.S. Rights

FIFA has begun sounding out media companies for U.S. broadcast rights to the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, with NFLX Netflix, DIS Disney, and Alphabet's GOOGL YouTube all said to be preparing bids, according to CNBC .

Executives are reportedly budgeting between $1.5 billion and $2 billion per tournament for the rights, with Apple and Amazon also viewed as potential bidders . Formal talks between FIFA and prospective media partners are expected to begin within the next three months.

A key structural change is driving up the expected price: FIFA plans to sell the English- and Spanish-language U.S. rights as a single combined package rather than splitting them, which would remove the downward pricing pressure that comes from separate bidders competing for the same games in different languages. For the 2026 World Cup, Fox paid $485 million for English-language U.S. rights while Telemundo paid $600 million for Spanish-language rights, a combined total well below the $1.5-2 billion range now being discussed for a single bundled deal .

Broadcasters will also face scheduling headwinds with both tournaments. The 2030 World Cup, co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, will run five to six hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast, and the 2034 tournament in Saudi Arabia creates an even steeper time-zone gap, shrinking the evening programming windows that typically draw the largest domestic audiences .

For Netflix and YouTube, a successful bid would mark a significant expansion into live global sports rights beyond existing programming such as Netflix's WWE and NFL Christmas Day games and YouTube TV's NFL Sunday Ticket distribution, while a win for Disney would extend ESPN's live-sports positioning. The size of the financial commitment, and the scheduling disadvantages relative to prior tournaments held in more favorable time zones, are among the factors that could shape how aggressively each company bids once formal negotiations begin.

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