Why is the media so invested in Netflix getting into the live sports market? No matter how often or how loudly the company insists that it isn’t what what it wants to do, financial analysts, reporters and others insist on asking the company’s co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos when the streaming pioneer will start pursuing game rights.
Over the weekend, I caught up on a few of the company’s sports docs that have gotten buzz lately. I am left with a question. If Netflix thinks it is good at sports documentaries and this is the shit they produce, why do we want the company involved in live sports?
Every time a new doc in the Untold series drops, there is hype on social media. My friends that know I love college football told me that I would enjoy the new documentaries about Johnny Manziel and Tim Tebow’s Florida Gators teams. I thought both of them were boring fluff pieces.
That is kind of par for the course with Netflix in my opinion. There is nothing interesting or groundbreaking on the platform anymore. Stranger Things looks beautiful, but the story is for children and children don’t care if your script makes any sense.
Sarandos’s position has been that the company is not against carrying live sports. It is just not in the business of doing anything that makes it harder to turn a profit.
Let me translate that: Netflix knows that there is money in carrying live sports, but leagues require their television partners to show effort and make investments. Those really aren’t things that Netflix does these days. Documentaries are cheap. Reality shows are cheap. Buying shows that originally aired overseas and dubbing them into English or throwing subtitles on them is cheap. Even on the low end, live sports rights aren’t cheap.
As Hollywood waits for a resolution that appeases studios and the striking writers and actors, many wonder what is going to happen to the fall and spring television seasons. Will we be overwhelmed by reality TV? Will there be a season of nothing but reruns? Plenty of networks will have sports to fall back on and put that programming in the spotlight. Netflix though? Netflix would rather produce nothing new of quality for a year rather than invest the money necessary to get games on its platform.
So that brings me back to the question we started with. Why are so many people so eager to see Netflix get into the sports business?
Even if it were something like WWE or AEW where the platform had a script it could rely on to create the best looking action possible, I am not confident it would deliver something the fan base would say is demonstrably better than what they see on cable right now.
Apple and Amazon are serious about sports. Those companies aren’t afraid to shell out big money to get marquee properties on their platform. If fans aren’t satisfied with what they see on streaming services that want to be in the sports business, what do they think they will get from one that is dragged into it kicking and screaming?
Latency issues, strange graphics, new, unfamiliar announcers. The people at home have a long list of complaints with the streaming services trying their best. Remember, if the audience is watching a game on a streaming service, that means it is now paying for something it either used to get for free or was part of the cable bill they are already used to paying. It’s not unreasonable for them to scrutinize.
Netflix innovated when it was in position to innovate. It made movie rental more convenient than Blockbuster. Then, it made movie rental even more convenient than that! Then it created a slate of original programming that was every bit as interesting and bold as the shows that made HBO a gold standard with Emmy voters.
Conditions were favorable to the company then. Every studio didn’t have its own streaming service. If Disney wanted to make it easy to stream Marvel movies, it turned to Netflix. If Fox had a show that was a little too bloody or boob-filled for network TV or FX, it turned to Netflix.
As the digital landscape has exploded with Disney+, Apple TV, Prime Video, Peacock, Paramount+ and others, Netflix lost its stranglehold on the streaming entertainment universe. While Amazon is dropping nearly half a billion dollars on its Lord of the Rings series, Netflix is revamping its business model from trying to be “must-have” to being “yeah, I’ll guess we’ll keep it”.
Games do not fit that model. If they were forced in there, I am not positive we, as fans, could count on Netflix not to cut corners and costs in production of the games. In a sports landscape where gambling and gamblers are more important than ever, that is a recipe for disaster.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
