Netflix currently has the rights to two NFL games on Christmas Day. As a present to itself, it’s looking to double that.
According to Jessica Toonkel and Joe Flint at the Wall Street Journal, the streamer wants to expand its current two-game package to four and is especially interested in the NFL’s new Thanksgiving Eve game and an international game.
While Netflix is in the final year of its three-year deal to showcase NFL games on Christmas Day, the NFL is working to renegotiate its media rights deals with all current partners, aiming to create mini-packages of four to five games that companies like Netflix can capitalize on.
Google’s YouTube and Amazon, which currently broadcast Thursday Night Football, are also open to adding more games to their slate, per the WSJ report. That’s something we’ve heard from Puck’s John Ourand and others previously as well.
Per Ourand, not only does the league want all of its new agreements in place before the upcoming season begins in September, but those deals would take effect immediately. Each of the NFL’s current broadcasting partners would essentially be buying out their own opt-out clauses, with the new contracts expected to run through 2033 or 2034.
Ourand also reported in February that the “consensus” among Wall Street analysts is that the NFL will carve out separate packages of games for Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube.
Sports Business Journal also reported in February that YouTube was an “early leader” in landing a four-game NFL package. As the league has shown great interest in expanding its international footprint, it only makes sense to partner with companies like YouTube and Netflix that have a worldwide reach.
While adding more NFL games is a no-brainer for a company like Netflix, it’ll have to get better at what it promises to advertisers. Ourand reported that last week’s MLB Opening Night broadcast included several make-good commercials after their Christmas Day NFL games, while highly rated, didn’t deliver the demo numbers they’d promised.