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NFL renews deals with CBS, Fox & NBC

THE NFL renewed its television deals with CBS, Fox and NBC for 9 years through the 2022 season, the league announced yesterday.

THE NFL renewed its television deals with CBS, Fox and NBC for 9 years through the 2022 season, the league announced yesterday.

The average rights fees from the three networks will increase by an average of 7 percent annually, a person familiar with the details said. That will take the total revenue from them from the current $1.93 billion per year to $3.1 billion by 2022.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the figures were not made public. The current agreements expire after the 2013 season.

The contracts will also allow NFL Network to expand the number of Thursday night games it airs beginning next year, though the league has not determined how many additional contests will be added. The current package includes eight games during the second half of the season.

"These agreements underscore the NFL's unique commitment to broadcast television that no other sport has," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "The agreements would not have been possible without our new 10-year labor agreement and the players deserve great credit."

Earlier this season, the NFL and ESPN reached an 8-year extension to keep "Monday Night Football" on the cable channel through the 2021 season.

CBS, Fox and NBC will each televise three Super Bowls during the length of the contracts, continuing the current rotation.

CBS will continue to show the AFC package on Sunday afternoons as it has since 1998, while Fox still has the NFC package that it first acquired in 1994.

"Sunday Night Football" will remain on NBC, which picked it up in 2006. The network will add the annual Thanksgiving prime-time game starting in 2012 and will exchange one of its current wild- card matchups for a divisional playoff.

Flexible scheduling will stay in effect to ensure quality late-season matchups on Sunday late afternoons and nights. It will be expanded in 2014 to allow some AFC games to air on Fox and NFC games on CBS, with all the details yet to be worked out.

Noteworthy * 

Cleveland president Mike Holmgren said quarterback Colt McCoy was not checked for a concussion while he was on the sideline after a helmet-to-helmet hit by Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison in last Thursday's game.

Holmgren's comments came 1 day after the NFL and the Players Association started an investigation into the Browns' handling of the incident. Holmgren said McCoy did not show any concussion-like symptoms until well after the game.

McCoy was sent home with a headache yesterday.

* Detroit defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh resumed practicing 2 days after being eligible to return from a league-issued suspension. He had to sit out two games for stepping on the right arm of Green Bay offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith in a loss on Thanksgiving Day.

* Indianapolis coach Jim Caldwell said quarterback Peyton Manning has started throwing again as part of his rehabilitation from neck surgery on Sept. 8. There is, however, no indication Manning will play again this season.

* Houston defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will have surgery this week to resolve a kidney condition and will be away from the team for a week to 10 days.

* Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's sprained left ankle remained in a walking boot, and backups Charlie Batch and Dennis Dixon are preparing as if they'll play on Monday night in San Francisco. Roethlisberger hasn't practiced since spraining the ankle in a win over Cleveland last Thursday.