To maintain its position as the world’s largest video subscription service, most assume Netflix will need — and be aggressive in bidding for — a major live sports portfolio.
Yet in spite of the successes of NFL Christmas GameDay, the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight, and WWE Raw, the streamer remains almost stubbornly patient on its pursuit of live sports rights.
In an interview with the New York Times released this week, Netflix VP of unscripted and sports programming Brandon Riegg reiterated that he “still isn’t convinced that acquiring an entire season of a sports league is the way to go for the company.” Instead, Riegg argued that buying live sports rights is “a necessary risk for Netflix to add a robust new aspect to Netflix’s programming with spectacles that bring viewers together en masse.” This would seemingly affirm the streamer’s preference for big, one-off events over a more consistent library of live sports inventory.
The strategy, for now, creates a sharp disparity between Netflix’s approach to sports and that of rival streamers Amazon Prime Video, which now owns NBA, WNBA, NFL, and MLB rights, and Apple, which now owns MLS and F1 rights.
Riegg’s current focus appears to be programming a sports megaevent that can best the Paul-Tyson fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“The competitive part of me would love to top that,” he said. “The realist in me thinks something will beat it. I don’t know what it will be, and I don’t know how quickly it will be.”
In some ways, Netflix’s public comments signal a more deliberate approach than its actual deal-making. Netflix will bring back NFL Christmas GameDay this winter and will broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027. The streamer is partnering with Dana White’s new boxing promotion for a Sept. 13 fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford in Las Vegas.
These are significant events, yes, but they are also slowly making Netflix an essential service for sports fans. Plot enough live sports events on the calendar, and Netflix may be able to have its cake and eat it. They may not have weekly pro basketball games like Amazon, but Netflix could soon have big sports events on a regular-enough basis to bring in sports-hungry subscribers.
Still, that won’t be enough to suck in an entirely contingent. The value of an NBA or MLB package for Netflix would be that diehard fans would simply have to buy into Netflix to watch the games they care about. This is what happened for WWE fans when Raw arrived on the streaming service. And it is what chief content officer Bela Bajaria hinted at in response to a hypothetical question earlier this year, when she said she would want a Sunday daytime package if Netflix ever bid on NFL rights.
Without this business model, most sports consumption on Netflix instead is bound to be haphazard. Subscribers will watch a boxing match or an NFL game because they are already using the service, and the match is simply what is on at that moment.
For now, Netflix is content to play the long game. Later this decade, when MLB, NFL, and major college sports rights come available again, it is likely Netflix will be a prominent bidder.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.