In a move that would significantly shake-up the sports broadcasting landscape, Netflix has signalled interest in acquiring NFL rights for Sunday games.
Netflix Chief Content Officer, Bela Bajaria, revealed to Puck.News via a The Town podcast that the streaming giant would be interested in bidding for a regular package of NFL Sunday afternoon games if available.
This would mean that Netflix would take over a Sunday afternoon NFL lot from either cable broadcasters CBS or FOX, which both have broadcast rights deals with the league until 2033.
However, the NFL holds the right to cancel these long-term deals four years earlier, which makes Netflix a prime candidate to bid on either the NFC package of Sunday games – currently acquired by FOX – or the AFC package – currently acquired by CBS.
If Netflix were to be successful in acquiring Sunday NFL afternoon games, it would represent the largest shift from traditional TV to streaming in US broadcasting history. This is due to primetime Sunday football games being consistently the highest-rated shows on air.
The NFL has been one of the biggest supporters of bringing its live games to streaming platforms, currently in a deal with Amazon Prime Video which shows Thursday Night Football games until 2033.
Adding another long-term streaming partner would deal a huge blow to not only FOX or CBS, but the rest of the traditional cable networks across the US.
As previously mentioned, NFL Sunday games have consistently recorded the highest ratings in US television for the past couple of decades. The cable network stations which broadcast the games also pay substantial amounts of money to broadcast NFL games on their networks.
Under their current deals, FOX and CBS each payout to the NFL around $2bn per-year. Both networks have also been long-term broadcast partners of the league, with FOX first acquiring rights for Sunday games in 1994, and CBS since 1998.
Netflix also poses a threat to these traditional cable networks as they also have large pockets that they have shown they are willing to spend. The streaming giant is currently in the midst of a 10-year deal with WWE to broadcast live its weekly show RAW, forking out $500m annually.
This is not the first time the NFL and Netflix have been partners too. Two NFL Christmas Day games were broadcasted live on Netflix, with both games attracting more than 30 million global viewers from 218 different countries, something that the NFL is keen on expanding.
The league has made no secret of its desire to become a true global sport, hosting six regular season games this year in overseas markets and in two countries – Ireland and Spain – it has never been before.
Netflix – with over 300 million global subscribers in 218 countries – certainly provides the international platform the NFL would view as a vehicle to drive its internationalisation push. However, how will traditional networks respond if one of their primary ratings drivers is under threat?
