Ex-NFL star predicts streaming giants will team up for bundles as league rights become 'so damn expensive'

Former NFL star Shawne Merriman appeared on OutKick's "Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich" about the future of the league.

With a new NFL media rights deal potentially on the horizon, new bidders on the outside looking in are likely to make their pitch to be brought into the football family. 

To do so, the offers need to be quite lucrative. 

The NFL reportedly had a fall timeframe to complete a new media rights deal, but John Ourand of Puck reported earlier this month that it is now believed the league wants it done before Week 1 in September. The league technically can’t exit the current media rights deals until after the 2029 season, but there isn’t expected to be any opposition to getting something new done with its partners. 

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Shawne Merriman attends the Resorts World Las Vegas Grand Opening on June 24, 2021, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ryan Steffy/Getty Images for Resorts World Las Vegas)

With additional media partners potentially entering the fold in this potential new deal, as well as the incumbents like FOX, CBS and NBC, the NFL should see more than its roughly $10 billion per year.

But one former NFL Pro Bowler believes these streaming services trying to jump one another to acquire rights to the most profitable professional sports league in the U.S. will need to find ways to team up themselves.

"There’s all kinds of FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) services and all different ways to distribute," ex-NFL linebacker Shawne Merriman said on "Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich." "The NFL is working heavy in their FAST channels distributing out to Pluto and Amazon Freevee, YouTube. This thing is not gonna stop and what will happen is it’ll become a bidding war. And what