To be clear, Netflix will almost assuredly increase its NFL offerings in the years ahead. Heck, it might even add a portion — if not the entirety — of the league’s Sunday afternoon offerings.
But when it comes to Bela Bajaria’s recent appearance on The Town with Matthew Belloni, the Netflix chief content officer’s comments were hardly a smoking gun.
Appearing on The Ringer/Puck podcast for a two-part episode, Bajaria touched on a variety of topics regarding both the state of her company and the industry at large. One particular exchange, however, appeared to receive the bulk of the attention — at least in the sports world — with many taking it as an indication that Netflix is looking to shake up the NFL viewing experience as we know it.
“Netflix threatens FOX and CBS as brave NFL broadcasting plan emerges,” reads a headline from The Mirror US.
“Netflix Wants to Be The New Home of Sunday Afternoon NFL Games,” reads another on Cord Cutters News.
“Netflix wants a Sunday afternoon NFL package,” writes Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
Based on these headlines alone — always a dangerous game — one would likely assume that Bajaria issued an outright threat, if not a promise, that Netflix would soon be claiming a significant portion of the NFL’s Sunday afternoon package, which is currently split between CBS and Fox. But while the headlines aren’t technically inaccurate, they were incomplete. Or at the very least fail to represent the true nature of what Bajaria said.
Rather, the Netflix executive only expressed hypothetical interest in the NFL’s Sunday slate only after a series of leading prompts from Belloni. That’s not a slight on Belloni, who is one of the best interviewers in the business, especially when it comes to high-ranking power players like Bajaria. But it’s worth noting that Bajaria wasn’t even aware that the NFL’s rights could be available after the 2029 season until the Puck founding partner made her aware of the opt-out clause in the league’s current deal.
Here’s how the exchange went down:
“In five years, will Netflix air a weekly NFL game? And because the answer is obviously yes, which NFL package will you steal from a rival?” Belloni asked during a lightning round of questions.
“I say the answer is no, because the rights are already tied up,” Bajaria answered.
“No, there are opt-outs in less than five years,” Belloni replied.
“If the answer is yes, then I definitely want the Sunday night — the Sunday games,” Bajaria said.
“You mean the Sunday afternoon or the Sunday Night Football game?” Belloni followed up.
“Afternoon,” Bajaria clarified.
Bajaria’s comments were so informal that it’s still not clear whether she was referring to Netflix airing a single Sunday afternoon game each week or the possibility of the streamer taking over the distribution of the Sunday Ticket package from Google’s YouTube TV (most have assumed the former, but the latter seemingly makes more sense). And it’s certainly telling that her initial answer was “no” until Belloni forced her hand by bringing up the league’s opt-out clause (again, he’s a great interviewer).
That’s not to say there’s nothing here, as one of Netflix’s top executives providing insight into which portion of the NFL’s package it might be interested in is certainly notable. But there’s a big difference between Bajaria explicitly stating that Netflix is targeting an NFL Sunday package and her answering a question based on hypothetical scenario that seemingly wasn’t even on her radar.
As for the NFL’s future on Netflix it would hardly be a surprise to see the streamer increase its footprint with the league following the success of last season’s Christmas Day doubleheader debut. And although Bajaria may have played it coy regarding her employer’s interest in adding a weekly package, the fact that she answered as quickly as she did about the Sunday slate seems to indicate that at least some conversations regarding the possibility have already been had.
Still, that’s not the same thing as Netflix actively plotting to steal at least a portion of the league’s Sunday slate, as some of the headlines have implied.
As for whether that’s how all of this will ultimately play out, that’s a story for another day. But for now, let’s pump the breaks on Netflix becoming the NFL’s new home on Sunday afternoons, which can’t even happen for at least another five years.
