Netflix is looking to expand its relationship with the NFL by adding a Thanksgiving Eve matchup and one international game to its current Christmas Day doubleheader.
The international game would likely be in the season’s opening week, according a report in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. Netflix secured rights in 2024 to two NFL games on Christmas Day, taking a leap forward in live sports. It’s in the final year of a three year deal. The WSJ said it paid about $75 million a game.
Netflix has been cautiously growing in live sports, including a long-term partnership with the WWE. NFL games are consistently among the most viewed television and have done well for the streamer, which also has a deal with Major League Baseball to carry multiple games a year, including on Opening Day, the Home Run Derby during the All-Star Game break in July, and the Field of Dreams Game from Iowa each summer.
The streamer declined to comment on expanded NFL ambitions.
Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria was upbeat on the relationship when asked at the March 18 Next on Netflix event whether the platform was interested in adding more NFL beyond Christmas.
“We love our partnership with the NFL,” she said. “And I think the strategy of an event game on Christmas and what we did with it, as far as adding Beyonce Bowl and then Snoop and doing some more bells and whistles around making the NFL Christmas day a real thing, has been an amazing partnership with them.
“As everybody knows, they have packages and different games coming, we’re always going to have the conversation with them about that, and just always evaluating, is that the right game or the right moment for something for us to do? But we really love the strategy of doing these Christmas Day games with them, and that’s worked well for us and for them.”
The NFL inked a deal last year to sell the NFL Network to Disney’s ESPN and take an ownership stake in the sports service, reclaiming rights to five games in the process, the WSJ said, and the league is willing to field offers for some or all of them from multiple suitors.