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This Christmas, the NFL might Netflix and cha-ching.
With the league reportedly passing the Santa hat in search of anywhere for $50 million to $100 million for the broadcasts rights to each of the two December 25 games in 2024, Boomer Esiason of WFAN floated an interesting theory on Wednesday.
“Do not be surprised if the NFL and Netflix get in bed for a nice little Christmas Day football games,” Esiason said, via AwfulAnnouncing.com. “I would not be surprised.”
I wouldn’t be, either. No one should be. Although the NFL and Netflix haven’t previously done a direct deal for games, the tentacles have been spreading. And Netflix has proven that it can serve up live events, as it did on Sunday night with the Tom Brady no-holds-barred-except-when-holds-were-barred roast.
It’s an awkward spot for the NFL, since the Wednesday schedule will be derived from clawing two games from CBS and/or Fox. In theory, they should already have the rights to those games.
Maybe the contracts were written to give the NFL the flexibility to yank a pair of Sunday games and move them to Wednesday. The reality, however, is that the NFL calls the shots in the broadcast relationships, where “the customer is always right” has been turned on its head, for years.
That’s one of the benefits of having a highly valuable product and limited supply. Big Shield calls the shots, and Christmas 2024 might bring a new customer to the table. Along with a whole lot of money for the league.