Much has been made about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his potential interest in purchasing the Washington Commanders. Thursday on 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C., Brian Mitchell and J.P. Finlay said Amazon has bigger aspirations than just Thursday Night Football when it comes to broadcasting the NFL.
“Amazon — right now — has the Thursday Night package. NBC, FOX, and CBS do a good job carving up the Sunday package, and ESPN has the Monday Night Football,” JP Finaly said. “But would it shock you if Amazon has grander ambitions of being a larger broadcast partner with the NFL? Because it certainly wouldn’t shock me.”
“Not at all,” Mitchell replied.
“And you could argue — as much money as Jerry Jones, or David Tepper, or Robert Kraft, or Stan Kroenke — the companies (like) Comcast Universal, CBS, FOX, they have more,” Finlay said. “They are able to cut checks to the league because those broadcast rights are so valuable. So does Amazon want to be limited to a Thursday Night package and then the person synonymous with the brand becomes a team owner? Which in some capacity has to limit how much more they can broaden.
“Or do they want to position themselves as the next broadcast partner for the next 50 years? And maybe they get the AFC package or the NFC package or Sunday Night Football. Or Monday Night Football. Or they put together some massive deal together and get two-thirds of it or something. I just think that’s possible.”
Mitchell said he believes Bezos might have a leg up on the competition to secure ownership of the Commanders due to Amazon’s popularity.
“Jeff Bezos is gonna sit there, and he’s gonna look at the options and say ‘Ok, this guy is basically being forced out. He can’t get a damn stadium, so I’m not paying him for a stadium he don’t have.’
“And I think a lot of other people may look at it like that. ‘I come in — I already have a deal in Virginia — and everyone around here wants to deal with Amazon. I might be able to come in here and work out a deal, or I might be able to come in and build my own damn stadium. So why would I pay him for what I could build myself?’ Every one said $7.5 billion. It may not get up there.”
