After a report emerged earlier this week that Netflix would not be submitting a bid for NFL Draft rights after ESPN’s deal expires this year, a new report is suggesting otherwise.
Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp and Mollie Cahillane are now reporting that Netflix is still a potential bidder for NFL Draft media rights, contradicting a report from Front Office Sports earlier this week. On the SBJ Sports Media Podcast released Thursday, Karp and Cahillane both suggested that Netflix is not out of the running.
Sources tell me and @MollieCahillane to NOT count out Netflix as a potential bidder for rights to the NFL Draft.
As we discuss on this week’s SBJ Sports Media Podcast, a standalone, tentpole event like this fits with Netflix’s sports strategy to date pic.twitter.com/qLLZLt7I69
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) March 27, 2025
“There was a report out there this week that Netflix is not going to be one of the companies that’s going to be bidding,” Karp began. “Not sure I agree with that, not necessarily something that I’m hearing from my sources, that Netflix is out.”
“I’m also hearing from my sources that Netflix is likely not out,” Cahillane concurred.
On paper, the NFL Draft makes sense as a property for Netflix. The streamer has made clear its preference for one-off tentpole events such as the NFL’s Christmas Day games or the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight. The NFL Draft fits perfectly into that mold as a three-day production. If Netflix is still interested, however, they’ll be facing some stiff competition.
Last year, Puck’s John Ourand reported that three companies had already submitted bids for the NFL Draft: ESPN, Fox, and Google. ESPN has aired the NFL Draft every year since 1980, and the network’s current dalliance with NFL Media could make them a more attractive bidder for the league.
However, it’s certainly possible that the NFL awards the draft to multiple rightsholders; one linear network and one streaming platform. There have already been multiple productions of the NFL Draft since 2006, when NFL Network began airing coverage separate from ESPN. A third production has even been added in recent years, with ABC airing an entirely different presentation from ESPN.
So it’s certainly not unprecedented for the league and its broadcast partners to give viewers several different options for draft consumption. But how that shakes out for 2026 and beyond seems to be anyone’s guess.