The National Football League is once again looking to add new broadcast windows next season, including a potential game on Thanksgiving Eve.
The NFL, of course, has several games on Thanksgiving itself, and in recent years has launched a Black Friday game with Amazon. But the day before Thanksgiving will be a new window for the league, so it is exploring the move.
“Every offseason, we look for new opportunities to better serve our fans in the scheduling process,” an NFL spokesperson says. Hollywood Reporter. “As Commissioner Goodell said, Thanksgiving and NFL football have become synonymous and given the continued growth of fan interest in our games on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, seeking additional opportunities tied to this special holiday is exciting for us to explore.”
One source notes that the league has had success with Thanksgiving and Black Friday games, as well as Christmas games on Netflix, so adding another game around the holidays makes sense. The league is also said to be considering other new windows as well.
The NFL, of course, is the king of television, with its games dominating the ratings charts and entrenched as must-see programming for both traditional media companies and tech giants. The league has been opportunistic in adding more windows and games in recent years, and its recent investment in ESPN gives it more flexibility to do so, with the league restoring a few games that were on NFL Network.
But the league’s rights partners are also preparing for early renewal talks with the league, which has an opt-out clause within two years. However, the NBA’s recent media deals have redefined the prices of top-tier sporting events, and the NFL will be poised to take advantage.
Some of those media partners have already started playing catch-up where they can cut budgets if their NFL fees rise in the next year or two.
However, there will likely be no shortage of suitors for the Thanksgiving Night game or any other new windows the league tries out (assuming the game is on the market and not bundled with an existing package), given the streaming needs of its traditional media partners, and interest in sports from digital native companies like YouTube, Amazon and Netflix.
