New American Football UK TV Deals Signed

There have been some big American football UK TV news dropping over the past twenty-four hours.

A few minutes ago, I read Sky Sports announce it will 'show more (NFL) games than ever as part of a new three-year deal'. I also found out that DAZN has picked up the rights to air NCAA Football games to the UK audience.

Those are obviously big stories. However, the one that made me sit up the most was broken yesterday.

Five has renewed its deal to show NFL content. For the past few years, the channel aired Monday Night Football games. However, the new coverage seems bigger. 

Much bigger.

From next week, and every week during the 2025 season, Five will air a 6PM (UK) Sunday game on its main channel. Then, at 9PM, another fixture will be played on 5ACTION.

Here's where coverage of the 6PM game becomes intriguing.

According to the press release sent out yesterday, coverage will begin each Sunday at 5:30PM and will be hosted by Dermot O'Leary with Osi Umenyiora and Sam Quek alongside. A  'play along format' has been devised for the first game called 'NFL: Big Game Night.'

NFL: Big Game Night has been created as a way to 'appeal to a Sunday early-evening family audience'. It'll run alongside the 6PM fixture. During stops in play, '5 will keep going with fun and games - in the form of a 'game within a game'. It'll see teams of friends and family compete for prizes in games that, as the press release boasts, 'are fast, furious and fun.' Points can only be scored by the team whose team is in possession of the ball in the actual game.

Look - I'm not going to lie here - it seems very convoluted, but I will give it a watch because I am intrigued to see how it will play out. If the concept manages to attract new eyeballs to the NFL, then that's a plus. 

The 9PM game will be presented by Quek and Umenyiora and won't have the game show on the side. Special guests are also set to appear.

As well as those regular season games, 5 will also air the Super Bowl and International Series fixtures set for London and Dublin. There's also 'Thanksgiving Day specials' and three playoff games announced as part of this deal.

It certainly seems like 5 has picked up a decent deal for NFL fans on these shores. I'm excited.

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