Rupert Murdoch, the NFL, and the Negotiation That Remade TV

Barely a quarter century ago, in December 1993, a remarkable negotiation tectonically rocked the world of American football, with aftershocks that directly shaped today’s media landscape. This was the business deal that won Fox prime rights to broadcast National Football League (NFL) games. It vaulted the fledgling Fox network, then far behind the Big Three — CBS, NBC, and ABC — to the hugely influential role it now plays in media and entertainment. CBS had carried these games since 1956, sported a legendary team in the broadcast booth, and enjoyed an excellent relationship with the NFL. To Murdoch and his largely Australian team, displacing this popular U.S. incumbent posed a daunting challenge. The simplistic explanation for Murdoch’s unlikely success is that Fox just wrote a bigger check than CBS when the rights came up for renewal. But Murdoch’s high bid was only part of a much fuller strategy of understanding the roles of incumbent and challenger that holds powerful lessons for negotiators, especially underdogs, in businesses well beyond sports and media.