Stop Ted Sarandos if you’ve heard this one before: Netflix is not interested in the live sports business.
The topic came up during the streaming service’s third-quarter earnings call and the Netflix Co-CEO answered the same way he always does when asked whether or not we might see them bid for broadcasting rights like Apple and Amazon.
“We are in the sports business, but we’re in the part of the sports business that we bring the most value to, which is the drama of sport,” said Sarandos.
He added that there has been no “core change” to the company’s live sports strategy even as they announce their first live sports event, The Netflix Cup, a match-play golf tournament featuring four Formula 1 drivers and four PGA Tour golfers. The justification for producing that live event is that it acts as a showcase for their Drive to Survive and Full Swing docu-series. Sports documentaries are a space where Netflix has really thrived in recent years.
Here’s what Awful Announcing’s Joe Lucia wrote the last time someone asked Sarandos if Netflix was getting into live sports in July.
One of these days, people will stop asking Netflix about live sports. Ten years ago, the company said they weren’t interested in live sports. That opinion didn’t change in 2015, 2017 (twice), and 2018 (twice). In 2022, the tune slightly changed, with Netflix admitting the company would need a “big profit stream” to start streaming live sports and that they were “pro-profit” as opposed to “anti-sports.”
The only live sport Netflix has been legitimately linked to over the last decade is Formula 1. In 2021, co-CEO Reed Hastings said Netflix “would think about” bidding for F1 rights. They tried to get involved in the most recent round of bidding last summer, but the company reportedly “wasn’t close” on its monetary offer. ESPN retained F1’s rights on a three-year deal paying an estimated $75 to $90 million per year.
Hopefully, The Netflix Cup goes a lot smoother than their first attempt at a live broadcast.
[Deadline]
