Gang Green Nation
This could change the way we watch the NFL forever.
Netflix entered the world of NFL broadcasting in 2024 by showing a doubleheader on Christmas. The streamer evidently has bigger goals for broadcasting the league per Puck and Pro Football Talk.
The streamer’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, told Matt Belloni of Puck (via John Ourand of Puck) that the company is interested in bidding on the NFL’s Sunday afternoon games.
Now it is important to note it is highly unlikely there will be any change to the way NFL fans see Sunday afternoon games for at least five years. The league’s current media rights deal runs through 2033, although the NFL has the option to opt out in 2029, four years before its expiration. We won’t see any changes before then unless Netflix was able to buy the rights to show afternoon games directly from CBS or Fox, which is doubtful given how much value the games have to the networks.
Once the league’s media rights are up for bidding, could the league kick Fox and/or CBS to the curb? The two networks are long-time partners with the league. They have been the exclusive homes of Sunday afternoon NFL games since 1998. The NFL’s relationship with Fox goes back to 1994. Meanwhile, CBS has shown NFL games since 1956 aside from a four season hiatus that lasted from 1994 through 1997.
Part of the decision would likely come down to what the media landscape looks like in 2029, which we can’t know right now. Will broadcast networks still be around? How significant will they be?
There also is a path to the NFL including Netflix among their Sunday afternoon broadcasters without breaking their longstanding relationships with Fox and CBS.
There was a subtle change in the league’s latest media rights deal, which began in 2023. In the past, the league sold the rights to their AFC games to one network and their NFC games to another. That is no longer the case in the current TV deal. The league simply sold the rights to show afternoon games to the two networks. There was no specific AFC or NFC package. So if you have noticed the Jets have been on Fox a lot more frequently the last two years, that’s the reason.
The league could instead sell the rights to three packages of Sunday afternoon games, one to Fox, one to CBS, and one to Netflix. In some ways, this could benefit fans since they would have access to extra games.
Of course all of this is speculative, but it is worth watching over the next few years. It seems like Netflix wants to be a player in NFL broadcasting.
