Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” package will now debut in 2022, a year earlier than originally announced, the NFL confirmed Monday.
The all-streaming provider is paying roughly $1 billion per season for the exclusive rights to the 16-game, digital-only arrangement, CNBC reported.
Amazon will spend $1.2 billion a year on their Thursday Night Football rights.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 3, 2021
That works out to about 0.2% of their expected 2021 revenue.
According to ESPN, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated trends that prompted the quicker-than-expected shift, part of a “larger set of broadcast deals the NFL reached in March that will also expand digital distribution for all of its current broadcast partners, including FOX, CBS, NBC and ABC/ESPN.”
All Thursday Night games will also be broadcast over the air in local markets, the sports news network reported.
Amazon’s deal, which includes 15 regular-season Thursday night games and one preseason game each season, will now run 11 years, matching the length of both the Sunday and Monday packages acquired by Disney, Comcast, ViacomCBS and FOX, CNBC reported.
“This expedited deal is an immediate differentiator for us as a service, as it gives Prime members exclusive access to the most popular sport in the United States,” Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video at Amazon, said in a prepared statement.
According to CNBC, a Prime Video membership costs $8.99 per month but is also included with a subscription to Amazon Prime for $12.99 per month or $119 annually.
Cox Media Group
