The National Football League is about to sign new rights agreements with media partners that could see Amazon.com Inc..
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they carry a lot of games exclusively and TV networks pay up to twice their current rate, people familiar with the matter said.
People might say that new agreements could be established as early as next week. Television deals on Sunday and Monday league franchises with Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN are likely to last up to eleven years, they said.
The ESPN deal would take effect after the 2021-22 season, while the Fox, CBS and NBC deals would begin after the 2022-23 season.
An agreement with Amazon would result in a significant number of Thursday night games exclusively on its Prime Video platform and would represent the league’s deepest foray into streaming, some of the people said. These games would not be available on traditional television outside the local markets of the two teams playing, they said.
Amazon has become an aggressive bidder for sports rights here and abroad. The company already has a relationship with the NFL, as it has broadcast rights to Thursday night football since 2017. These games have also been televised by the league’s owner NFL Network, and more recently by the Fox network, his father Fox Corp. FOX 2.88%
shares ownership in News Corp., the parent company of the Wall Street Journal publisher, Dow Jones & Co.
If completed, an Amazon deal would not take effect until after the 2022 season, when Fox’s current football pact expires Thursday night. Fox now pays $ 660 million per season for this package, the Wall Street Journal previously reported. If Thursday’s games go to Amazon and there are no other video components beyond the local TV markets of the teams they play, that annual fee Amazon pays could reach $ 1 billion, people with knowledge of the discussions.
Amazon currently pays between $ 75 million and $ 100 million to play Thursday games, said a person with knowledge of the deal. As with Fox, this contract still has two seasons. The NFL network would continue to carry a handful of exclusive games Saturday and Thursday, as its contract with distributors requires it to carry at least five games a season, according to people familiar with the league’s thinking.
An agreement with Amazon for most Thursday night games would solve a potential problem for the NFL. While Thursday’s games get strong ratings compared to any other programming, the high price was becoming a tough sell-off with broadcasters already carrying NFL packages like Fox, which according to analysts and industry experts are losing 250 millions of dollars a season. Prior to the Fox deal, CBS and NBC shared Thursday’s games and their combined losses were more than $ 200 million, according to people familiar with those deals.
Long-term offers may be the last time the NFL can get giant fare increases from its broadcast and cable partners amid fragmented viewing and cord cutting. Dominique Dafney of Green Bay threw a touchdown pass on January 3rd.
Photo:
Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press
One step in placing a large number of NFL games (which typically dominate television ratings) exclusively on a streaming platform is not without risk. Amazon brought a game exclusively last year and attracted an average audience of less than five million, far below the typical NFL television game or ESPN’s “Monday Night Football”.
The league is trying to strike a balance between adopting new platforms and the revenue it represents by keeping most of its games on traditional television.
The average annual share of Fox Corp. for its Sunday afternoon games it is expected to rise to about $ 2 billion from the current $ 1.1 billion, according to people familiar with the negotiations. ViacomCBS Inc..
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its average per-season rate for Sunday afternoon games will likely go from $ 1 billion to $ 2 billion, people said.
The new deal for Comcast Corp..
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NBC is also expected to double that, from an average of $ 960 million it pays per season now to about $ 2 billion, a person familiar with the pact said. NBC’s Peacock broadcast service will also feature a game exclusively and will simultaneously broadcast NBC’s Sunday night games, the person said.
In addition, the league hopes to get a big increase in Walt Disney Co. rates..
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ESPN, said people familiar with the matter.
Rate increases come after a season in which ratings fell in the regular season, the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Network executives say they believe the coronavirus pandemic played a major role in the declines and believe the numbers will improve once normalcy returns.
In addition, CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN face challenges in clinging to viewers, making live sports increasingly important.
This next round of long-term bids may be the last time the NFL manages to raise the giant rate of its broadcast and wiring partners, as viewer fragmentation and cord cutting are only expected to increase. in the coming years, said media analyst Moffett Nathanson Michael Nathanson.
“This is a signal that the NFL wants to grab as much as it can for as long as it can. In a decade, the world will surely look different and a new group of bidders will have to emerge,” Nathanson said.
One TV offer the NFL has yet to renegotiate is the Sunday Ticket package, which allows fans to watch any game on Sunday afternoon. AT&T Inc.‘s
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DirecTV has the package for the 2022 season at an annual price of $ 1.5 billion. AT&T chief executive John Stankey has indicated that Sunday Ticket is not the growth engine it was before and is no longer critical of DirecTV. In addition, AT&T’s own interest in the satellite station is also fading. Last week it reached an agreement to sell a 30% stake in DirecTV to private equity firm TPG for $ 1.8 billion.
Write to Joe Flint and [email protected]
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