Last week, there were conflicting reports about the NFL’s partnership with Disney. Fast forward a week later, and there’s a new report about the league’s negotiations with Amazon.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a new deal between the NFL and Amazon could result in a “significant number” of Thursday night games airing exclusively on the Prime Video platform. However, this wouldn’t go into effect until after the 2022 season.
Fox currently has a $660 million deal with the NFL for Thursday night games. The report from the Wall Street Journal states that Amazon could pay as much as $1 billion for that package.
If this deal goes through, only the local markets would be able to host the Thursday night games on traditional television. Everyone else would have to stream the game on Prime Video.
The NFL has been partners with Amazon since 2017, allowing games here and there to be exclusively on Prime Video. This move would be a massive leap for the league, but streaming has become a huge deal in the sports world.
Amazon could end up with a Thursday package of exclusive games in next round of TV deals. ESPN, NBC, CBS and Fox looking at major pay hikes but then you knew that already. https://t.co/Z2bF8FqatX via @WSJ
— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) March 3, 2021
It makes sense for the NFL to land these lucrative deals now while it still can.
‘If I’m the NFL, I need to get digital bidders. The future of sports broadcasting is not going to be linear TV. You need to get the digital players involved,” TV analyst Rich Greenfield said.
Analyst @RichLightShed been predicting for months Amazon would land Thursday Night Football:
‘If I’m the NFL, I need to get digital bidders. The future of sports broadcasting is not going to be linear TV. You need to get the digital players involved.”https://t.co/mZimeAdG4x
— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) March 3, 2021
Not only would these new deals allow the NFL to potentially expand its market, it could help the league generate an absurd amount of revenue during these uncertain times.
The post NFL World Reacts To The Latest Television Deal News appeared first on The Spun.
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