Fansided

Another NFL London game could be broadcast on the Internet only in 2017

By Derek Helling

Sep 30, 2016; London, United Kingdom; Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Luke Joeckel (76) during practice at Allianz Park in preparation for the NFL International Series game against the Indianapolis Colts. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 30, 2016; London, United Kingdom; Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Luke Joeckel (76) during practice at Allianz Park in preparation for the NFL International Series game against the Indianapolis Colts. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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The NFL is looking for another streaming content partner to give exclusive broadcast rights for one of its regular season games in London to.

Given the king’s ransom that the NFL just got for 10 Thursday Night Football games from Amazon, the league is seeing more dollar signs with an NFL London game that could be broadcast on the Internet only.

According to Sports Business Journal (paywall), the NFL is seeking another partnership for one of the four contests like it had with Yahoo! in 2015. Yahoo! paid $10 million for exclusive broadcast rights for the regular season game in London between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars on October 25 that year.

The broadcast was labeled a success, as it drew over 15 million viewers and 33.6 million individual streams.

The league hasn’t announced which game it is looking at offering via live stream only. The contests scheduled to take place in London during the 2017-18 season include: Arizona Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Rams in Week 7 or 8, Baltimore Ravens vs. Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3 or 4, Cleveland Browns vs. Minnesota Vikings in Week 7 or 8, and Miami Dolphins vs. New Orleans Saints in Week 3 or 4.

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It’s not yet clear whether or not Yahoo! will be interested in being the destination for this content again either. It’s possible that those parties who lost out on the bidding for the Thursday Night Football streaming rights might be part of this bidding war. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were the reported three other contenders for those rights.

Exactly how much these rights will go for is also uncertain. Given the fact that the single game exclusive rights got $10 million two years, and that the non-exclusive rights for 10 games on Thursday nights just got around $50 million, it wouldn’t be crazy to expect the NFL to demand between $20-$30 million.

Two fan bases will have one of their games only available to watch online this year if the NFL has its way. If the audience grows like the price of the rights has, it could be worth the investment for the buyer.