FOX obtains rights to 11 NFL Thursday Night Football games
By Nir Regev
FOX will reportedly have 11 NFL Thursday Night Football games next season, sharing with NFL Network and another digital partner.
According to sources connected to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, FOX has obtained the rights to 11 Thursday Night NFL games for the coming season, including expanded mobile rights. The broadcasting team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will likely not be returning to commentate on Thursday Night Football games, though nothing is set in stone at the moment.
Bloomberg reported via sources that requested to stay anonymous that FOX “submitted a bid that’s higher than the $45 million a game CBS and NBC agreed to pay last year”. NBC and CBS reportedly paid a combined $450 million to air their 10 games this past season.
The pivotal bidding by FOX comes on the heels of what could be waning interest in high bidding by competing networks. Advertisers have been dismayed by the NFL’s somewhat lowered viewership, leaving the market open for aggressive bidding to take ownership of broadcast rights. Keep in mind it’s not clear as of yet whether the NFL has simultaneously awarded online live-stream rights.
Sources: Fox will have 11 Thursday Night NFL games, sharing with NFL Network and a digital partner. Fox will have expanded mobile rights. The TNF digital package (ie, Amazon's) still is up for sale.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) January 31, 2018
As of right now, it does not look like Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will do the Thursday night games. Full story coming tomorrow in SBD's Morning Buzz.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) January 31, 2018
The NFL’s Thursday Night Football first aired back on Nov. 23, 2006 on the NFL Network. It’s appeared on NBC, CBS, Universo via Telemundo Deportes, and most recently, Amazon Prime in 2017 for select games. Amazon paid a total of $50 million for rights to Thursday Night Football on their digital service last year, Twitter owning rights previously in 2016.
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The NFL’s Thursday Night Football deal with FOX might be officially announced as early as Wednesday, potentially sharing rights with the NFL’s own network. Whether shared or not, it’s a major-league move for FOX and indicates a definitive market-changing strategy.