According to a Bloomberg report, Amazon is preparing a bid in the upcoming auction for the rights to stream Premiere League matches.
This past fall, there were reports Amazon and Facebook could be interested in bidding for the English Premiere League after executive vice chairman of Manchester United, Ed Woodward, spoke to investors about tech companies’ interest in sports broadcast rights.
The last Premiere League auction in 2015 garnered $6.9 billion from Sky and BT Sport after the two companies bid against each other and shared the rights for the last three seasons.
Amazon declined to comment on the report, but they have not shied away from their interest in purchasing sports rights, stating in November, “We will continue to look to add content that Prime members want.”
Amazon has already invested in sports with streaming rights to tennis matches, college basketball and NFL games. After Twitter paid $10 million to stream 10 NFL Thursday Night Football games last year, Amazon upped the price, paying $50 million for the same rights during the 2017-18 NFL season.
The Premier League, whose negotiating team is headed by Chairman Richard Scudamore, declined to comment on Amazon’s interest, but does expect the auction to generate a price higher than the $6.9 million received from the last deal.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
