For the first time in years, the people who own the games are walking into the next rights cycle with real leverage. As streamers depend ever more heavily on live sport to drive subscribers, and tech giants pour fresh capital into the bidding pool, the contest in the rights market is no longer just about headline fees – it’s about who designs the smartest deal.
Drawing on responses from 52 senior executives working across leagues, broadcasters, streaming services, and distribution partners, Who Holds the Power in Sports Rights in 2026 lays out how the industry expects negotiating leverage, deal architecture, and direct-to-consumer ambition to evolve in the cycle ahead.
Headline Questions the Survey Answers:
Where Will Negotiating Power Sit by 2026?
The survey asked whether sports leagues and rights holders, global streaming services, or tech and OS-level platforms will hold the strongest negotiating hand in the next cycle. The answers point to a clear plurality view – but it is a tighter race than most headlines suggest.
Has Package Fragmentation Gone Too Far?
Sports rights are now spread across more services than ever. Whether the industry believes this is short-term turbulence or a long-term threat to fan value is one of the central questions the survey explores.
Is the Rights Boom Plateauing – or Splitting?
Rights fees have climbed for over a decade. Executives are now weighing whether that growth will continue across the board, or whether the market is starting to split between premium properties and softer mid-tier inventory. The survey gives a clear answer.
How Far Will Rights Holders Go on Direct-to-Consumer?
Some respondents expect major leagues to run their own D2C services at scale. Others see selective D2C for niche or out-of-market content. A third group believes licensing will remain the primary distribution model. The survey reveals which path the industry expects to prevail.
And on the question of who is doing more to shape the structure of sports streaming heading into the next cycle – the survey makes a clear call.
The Picture That Emerges
Read across the four sections, the survey points to a market where deal architecture, territorial structure, and distribution choice matter as much as headline rights fees. Where the industry expects each of those to land – by negotiating power, deal model, territorial design, and direct-to-consumer ambition – is what the full report reveals.
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