This is not just a paperwork story. It goes to the heart of how a World Cup is sold, watched and packaged.
For , that matters even more with a World Cup that is expected to be bigger, busier and more commercially demanding than previous editions. The competition in 2026 will bring added inventory, more match windows and a heavier broadcast lift.
The report says the negotiations had dragged on for some time. That makes the timing notable. Rights deals struck closer to a tournament can still be valuable, but they leave less room to build momentum, shape marketing campaigns and educate casual viewers around kickoff times, talent coverage and streaming access.
In that sense, even a late breakthrough would still count as an important win for . It would remove uncertainty from a market that global football cannot afford to treat as secondary, especially as governing bodies chase younger, mobile-first audiences.
A broadcaster with strong entertainment reach can do more than simply show matches. The real opportunity is to turn the World Cup into a wider event:
The next step is to see whether the arrangement is formally completed and how the coverage package is presented. As the road to 2026 shortens, the focus will shift from rights wrangling to a bigger question: how effectively can turn global distribution into genuine tournament buzz.