The 2026 World Cup is shaping up to be the most-watched sporting event on the planet, and Fox is sitting pretty with exclusive U.S. broadcast rights—but not without some serious drama behind the scenes. According to a report from Tariq Panja of the New York Times, FIFA brass got cold feet over the deal they gave Fox and even explored legal ways to take it back.
Fox is paying just $485 million for the rights to the 2026 tournament. That sounds like a lot, but industry experts say the real market value is between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. That means Fox landed the rights for less than half of what FIFA could have gotten if they had opened the bidding to other networks. It’s a massive discount that has left some FIFA officials fuming.
The discount traces back to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. When FIFA decided to move that tournament to November and December—a scheduling shift that disrupted broadcast plans—Fox’s existing contract included a clause that allowed them to extend their deal into 2026 without a competitive bid. That’s how Fox locked in the 2026 rights at a bargain price.
FIFA reportedly reached out to Fox’s legal team to explore rescinding the rights. But Fox didn’t budge. The network fired back with a 10-page letter defending its position, arguing that the rights were secured properly. Inside FIFA, there was division over whether they had a legal leg to stand on. In the end, they decided not to pursue the case.
The whole situation has raised eyebrows across the sports world. Fox is now set to broadcast the 2026 World Cup—which will feature 48 teams and matches across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico—at a fraction of what it’s worth. Meanwhile, FIFA has yet to sell the U.S. broadcast rights for the 2030 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.
This isn’t the only controversy surrounding the upcoming tournament. Nick Bosa ripped NFL stadiums for their grass switch ahead of the World Cup, and England's World Cup warm-up is facing 50,000 empty seats in Florida. The buzz around the event is only growing.
For Fox, the deal is a home run. For FIFA, it’s a bitter pill to swallow—one they tried to spit out but couldn’t.
