Amazon Aims to Become Exclusive Provider of All Thursday NFL Games

Looks like Amazon has a new endeavor up its sleeve, and this time it involves football.

The e-commerce giant wants to become the exclusive provider of all Thursday NFL games beginning in 2023.

The company, according to people familiar with the situation, is open to producing all of the games for its Prime Video streaming platform and as such would become responsible for teaming up with a local broadcasters to televise the game in both teams’ local markets.

The sources have said that Amazon is in discussions with the NFL league to pay roughly $1 billion for an entire season’s worth of exclusive games. This is outside of the local TV markets of the two teams playing.

The talks are private and are ongoing. No decision has been made, said the people who wish to remain anonymous.

The Wall Street Journal, which previously reported Amazon’s interest has also reported this week that the NFL Network’s deals require it to broadcast five games exclusively.

With the NFL set to add an 18th week, the league could potentially give the NFL Network enough Saturday games and other carveouts to hit the cable network’s limits without dipping into Thursday, one of the people said.

Two of the sources have revealed that the NFL deciding to pop up NFL Network’s value is a higher priority than giving Amazon a full slate of Thursday games. The league is still considering proposals to simulcast Amazon’s Thursday games on the NFL Network or to split Thursday’s games between Amazon and the NFL Network.

“This is a pretty watershed event for the TV industry,” LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield remarked on CNCB. “The fact that now you can get Thursday night games without having any local television — no antenna will work if you’re outside of the home markets.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.