The NFL just celebrated the most-watched Thanksgiving game ever with the CBS broadcast of Chiefs-Cowboys. Perhaps it will start thinking ever bigger.
According to the Sports Business Journal, industry insiders believe the NFL could carve out a holiday package in its next broadcast rights deal, which it would likely sell to a streamer.
With the current schedule, the most likely group of games in such a package would be the three Thanksgiving contests (currently split between Fox, CBS, and NBC) and the two Christmas Day games (both currently on Netflix). The NFL also currently airs a national game on Black Friday in partnership with Amazon.
Such a move would represent a shift in how the NFL operates. We have already seen the league force teams to play games on short rest to satisfy broadcast partners. Thanksgiving and Black Friday were more bankable game days because the league already plays on Thursdays, and some Fridays early in the year. Christmas and other roving holidays are harder to schedule.
The shift would also affect the NFL’s main broadcast partners at Fox, NBC, and CBS, who have long aired Thanksgiving games as part of their regular packages. If the NFL were to sell these games separately, it would remove a significant piece of those packages’ value. Whichever streamer won rights to a hypothetical holiday package would also become a strong bidder for top games, keeping some of those premium matchups away from the traditional networks.
A top Fox Sports executive told SBJ that, even over the next few years, the network may try to maximize Thanksgiving viewership more than in previous seasons.
“There will have to be some thought given to not necessarily going with the biggest game available, but going with something that’s going to drive a lot of viewership and drive revenue — it’s a unique revenue opportunity as it kicks off the holiday shopping season — but without leaving ourselves shorthanded at 4:25 p.m. [Sundays],” Fox Sports president of insights and analytics Michael Mulvihill told SBJ.
Mulvihill’s comments also serve as a warning to the NFL and any bidders for a potential future holiday package. There are only so many games to go around, and the tradeoffs of milking Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any other holiday come at the expense of different partners and their packages.
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.