Amazon deal with NFL to air NFL games

Amazon is set to start producing all Thursday night NFL games for the Amazon Prime Video streaming platform starting 2023.

The tech and e-commerce giant wants to become the exclusive producer of the National Football League’s Thursday games. While the decision may be profitable for the NFL, the league may decide to allow Amazon to produce a few games while it keeps certain games on the NFL Network, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Amazon and the NFL are in talks about a potential $1 billion deal for an entire season’s exclusive games. The deal will be for exclusive games, outside the reach of local TV markets. The talks are still ongoing and no decision has been made yet, the sources said.

In a new agreement, Amazon will take full responsibility for all production costs and will be required to pay a local broadcaster to produce the game for home markets. The NFL wants the Thursday night games to be broadcasted on local TV in each team’s home market.

The NFL Network is one of the expensive bundles on pay-TV and only allows pay-TV distributors to produce and air a limited number of exclusive games. The NFL Network reportedly allows pay-TV to broadcast five exclusive games, according to The Wall Street Journal. The NFL Network is set to become more profitable as it adds the 18th week, which will give the network more Saturday games and other carveouts without cutting into Thursday.

Rather than give Amazon full exclusivity of Thursday games, the NFL may prop up the NFL Network’s value which is a higher priority. The sources said the league is still deciding whether to split Thursday games broadcasting with Amazon or give Amazon full exclusive rights to broadcast Thursday night games.

If the NFL decides to give Amazon the right to produce a few exclusive games, Amazon won’t pay the full $1 billion, the sources said. However, the tech giant is open to the offer of getting branded games that are simulcast on the NFL Network for a lesser amount. It is also open to getting fewer exclusive games for less money.

“This is a pretty watershed event for the TV industry,” said Rich Greenfield, LightShed analyst. “The fact that now you can get Thursday night games without having any local television – no antenna will work if you’re outside of the home markets.”

Although streaming is becoming more dominant among millions of American viewers, the NFL has been careful with giving broadcast rights to streaming services. It has other pending deals with its current partners – Disney, which owns ESPN and ABC; Comcast’s NBCUniversal; ViacomCBS, and Fox.