Westwood One and the National Football League have announced a new two year deal for the broadcast radio rights. Going into the latest negotiation, ESPN Radio, the Content Factory and Sporting News Radio were all interested, but as Neil Best of Newsday quotes a Sports Business Daily report from John Ourand, the recent sale of Westwood One to the Gores Group brought an influx of cash and it spurred this agreement.
Here’s the press release from the NFL.
WESTWOOD ONE AND NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE AGREE ON NEW DEAL
— Westwood One to continue as the NFL’s Exclusive Network Radio Partner —
New York, NY – March 12, 2009 – Westwood One and the National Football League (NFL) announced today a new two-year agreement for Westwood One to continue as the exclusive network radio partner of the NFL.
Westwood One has been an NFL network radio partner for more than four decades and the exclusive network radio partner since 1987.
“This agreement reflects the spirit of our long-standing partnership with the NFL,” said Rod Sherwood, President and CFO of Westwood One. “The NFL is a powerful franchise with programming and a huge audience that bring great value to Westwood One, our affiliates and our advertisers.”
Westwood One will continue to broadcast all national regular season and postseason NFL games, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, the NFL Playoffs, the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl. In addition, Westwood One’s NFL broadcasts will now be streamed online as part of Field Pass on NFL.com.
“We are pleased to continue our partnership with Westwood One, which has been a long-time part of the NFL family,” said Howard Katz, NFL Senior Vice President, Broadcasting and Media Operations. “We continue to reach our fans wherever they may be.”
As the exclusive radio partner of the NFL, the Westwood One 2009 NFL broadcast schedule features 57 national games, including: the Hall of Fame game, Opening Kickoff game, 17 Monday Night games, including one doubleheader, 16 Sunday Night games, eight Thursday and Saturday Night games (including Thanksgiving Night), Thanksgiving Day doubleheader, 12 Postseason games, including the NFL Playoffs, the AFC and NFC Championship Games, the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida. Westwood One also delivers specialty programs, including: The NFL Today, NFL Preview, NFL Insider, NFL Sunday, and NFL Fantasy Football Forecast.
“Advertisers have experienced great success with our network of over 500 radio stations broadcasting the NFL games to millions of fans across the country,” said Gary Schonfeld, President, Westwood One, Network. “The NFL games are the perfect environment for delivering advertising messages to an enthusiastic and attentive audience.”
This keeps all of the primetime games including the playoffs on Westwood One. A contract to broadcast Sunday afternoon games is done under a separate contract with the individual teams.
Note the sentence I put in bold. Westwood One’s games will be streamed on NFL.com.
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