As the NFL experiments with Amazon, Twitter, Verizon/Yahoo and other potential digital partners, one television executive feels that the league won’t totally ditch broadcast television for online streaming outlets. NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus says while he expects Amazon and Facebook to bid for Thursday Night Football rights against the traditional networks, he feels that when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, the NFL will always choose broadcast over digital.
Lazarus told the TV2020 conference in New York that the broadcast rights for Thursday Night Football could go into the discussion stage with the NFL in the next two to three months. In 2016, NBC got half of the TNF rights for 2017, joining CBS.
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“I don’t believe abandonment of broadcast is in the best interest of any sport.”
Lazarus notes that the viewership on Amazon and Yahoo is small compared to what broadcast can deliver.
He added that the rights could serve as a harbinger for future sports TV negotiations, but he wouldn’t say if it would mean that the proverbial sports rights bubble had burst. He said sports rights have been reaching its tipping point for four decades, but it hasn’t poppped yet.
Lazarus joins CBS CEO Les Moonves in believing that the NFL won’t totally leave broadcast. Television’s future may be uncertain, but both CBS and NBC are confident that the NFL will still be a partner in the 2020s and beyond.
