NFL Media made an interesting announcement before Thursday’s game between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers.
Per a social media post by the league, a contractual dispute involving Fox Sports Mexico will cause all NFL content, including live games, to go dark on the network effective immediately.
Interestingly enough, Fox Sports Mexico has spent years outside of the Fox corporate umbrella as a result of the Disney-Fox deal in 2019. This past June, a regulatory body in Mexico approved Fox’s ability to reacquire the network from Grupo Multimedia Lauman, a global media conglomerate owned by Mexican businessman Manuel Arroyo who had licensed the brand from Disney. That sale has yet to happen, and control of the network remains in Arroyo’s hands.
That makes this dispute extra notable. Fox, of course, is one of the NFL’s primary broadcast partners, paying the league over $2 billion per year to air games in the United States. One could imagine that Fox, as part of any acquisition of Fox Sports Mexico, would like to have NFL rights included in that deal.
It’s unclear what exactly the contract dispute between Fox Sports Mexico and the league is, or why the timing of such a dispute has happened in the middle of the season. Occasionally, such disputes occur mid-season over unpaid rights fees.
Luckily for Mexican fans, there’s an alternative. NFL fans in Mexico can access all NFL games through NFL Game Pass on sports streaming service DAZN.
Correction: This piece originally stated that Fox Corporation had acquired Fox Sports Mexico in June, when regulatory approval was granted by the Mexican government. Such a deal has not yet been consummated.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.