Earlier in the week at the NFL Owners Meetings, the competition committee approved flex scheduling for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video. As a result, the company will now have the ability to flex up to two games per season between weeks 13 and 17. Fans will be inconvenienced.
While the NFL is trying to make streaming a part of the normal broadcast landscape ahead of a reported opt-out in its 11-year pact with Amazon, ESPN 1000’s Carmen and Jurko believe the issue stems from a deeper place.
“This is all because Jeff Bezos probably went running to Roger Goodell bitching and complaining about his slate of Thursday night games last year, and how the ratings didn’t come close probably to what they had expected or anticipated,” show co-host Carmen DeFalco said. “And he raised a stink and he’s invested a lot in the league and he’s got a lot of clout and influence, obviously.”
In its first year, Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video averaged 9.58 million viewers. Amazon own metrics alter the average viewership figure to 11.3 million, and six of the 15 games averaged more than 10 million viewers based on the Nielsen data alone. These numbers were down from the 2021 season when games were aired on FOX and NFL Network and attracted an average of 13.33 million viewers per game.
Despite industry executives expressing their satisfaction with the performance of the broadcast property in its first year, they are surely looking for ways to improve in the future. Play-by-play announcer Al Michaels did not hide his dissatisfaction with parts of the schedule last year, but conveyed in an interview with Barrett Sports Media how he was pleased with the production and team the outlet assembled.
The conversation on Chicago sports radio moved to focus on another recent broadcast deal – the NFL and NBCUniversal’s OTT streaming service, Peacock, striking a deal to broadcast an exclusive playoff game for a reported $110 million. To the average sports fan, this latest agreement means they will need to subscribe to yet another streaming service.
“I don’t have Peacock,” said DeFalco. “I don’t pay for that. Not all of us have Peacock. Am I going to miss an NFL playoff game?
“You love Sunday football, Monday Night Football, you love it,” replied show co-host John Jurkovic. “But at what point is it going to be where you’re looking up some podunk channel because the NFL decided to take $1 billion from them?”
