The NFL will continue auctioning off early round playoff games to streaming partners despite the backlash towards this year’s Peacock exclusive game during Wild Card Weekend between the Dolphins and Chiefs, and it’s hard to blame the league given what networks are putting up.
After Peacock paid around $110 million to land the biggest streaming day in history thanks to Dolphins-Chiefs, Amazon’s Prime Video will join the fray in 2025. A report this week from Front Office Sports put the price tag at $120 million for Prime Video’s playoff game, but CNBC’s Alex Sherman reported on Wednesday that the NFL will actually be getting closer to $150 million from the streamer for the exclusive rights.
Just now @sherman4949 went on CNBC with news that the price tag for Amazon's streaming exclusive playoff game next year is $150 million.
Earlier today, @FOS reported the number at $120 million
NFL equivalent to finding an extra $30 million in their couch cushions. pic.twitter.com/xgEM9ITmPS
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 22, 2024
Roger Goodell has made clear that there is a line he’ll draw with regards to streaming services having games, as there won’t be a Super Bowl on a streamer coming in the future, but the NFL is willing to take a ratings hit for a massive payday on a Wild Card game. Dolphins-Chiefs did 23 million viewers, which is a record for streaming but was well below what a typical NFL playoff game does on linear TV (FOX did ~40 million this year, while ESPN did ~29 million on Monday night). You can also expect the NFL to keep Conference Championship (and likely Divisional Round) games on linear as well, as they regularly top 50 million, which just isn’t going to happen on streaming.
Still, at $150 million, they’ll take the hit on a 6-16 million viewer loss and while it might be frustrating for fans, it’s hard to blame the league for taking advantage of how thirsty streamers are to bring in eyeballs.
Source: https://uproxx.com/sports/prime-video-nfl-playoff-game-cost-150-million-report/
