December 16, 2011 7:39 PM
The Score: Covington Helps NFL Ink Billion-Dollar TV Extensions
Posted by Brian Baxter
Covington Burling‘s sports practice maintained its hot streak this week, helping the National Football League negotiate a nine-year extension on television contracts with three major networks that will bring the league billions each year.
The Am Law Daily reported last week on Covington’s role advising the Big East collegiate athletic conference in expansion efforts, its TV contract negotiations, and its ongoing dispute with would-be defector West Virginia University.
Many collegiate and professional sports leagues have been reaping the benefits from lucrative TV deals, which networks are increasingly willing to pay thanks to hefty rates they can charge advertisers. (Unlike other scheduled programming affected by the advent of digital video recorders, most viewers don’t enjoy watching major sporting events on delay.)
In September, Covington represented the NFL when it negotiated an eight-year, $15 billion TV deal with ESPN. Now the NFL has reached agreements with CBS, News Corp.’s Fox, and Comcast’s NBC on renewals of their contracts through the 2022 season, including an expanded slate of games on Thursday Read More from the Article Source: Full Article
