Amazon and the National Football League have tacked on an extra year to a recent deal that makes Prime Video the exclusive home for “Thursday Night Football.” The reported $1 billion a year deal will now run 11 seasons and start with the 2022 season instead of 2023.
The announcement came Monday as Amazon was taking part in the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) NewFronts, where platforms pitch media buyers for ad dollars.
The existing “Thursday Night Football” tri-cast package between Amazon, Fox and NFL Network, will now expire after this season. Prime Video will carry 15 games per year and one pre-season game per year through the 2032 season, viewable as part of a Prime membership.
“This expedited deal is an immediate differentiator for us as a service, as it gives Prime members exclusive access to the most popular sport in the United States,” Marie Donoghue, vice president of Global Sports Video at Amazon, said in a news release.
It’s the first time the league has sold an exclusive national rights package to a digital streaming service. The NFL has a long-standing commitment to make games available on free, over-the-air television, so each game will also be televised in the participating teams’ home marketplaces.
Amazon first took over streaming rights for “TNF” from Twitter in 2017, paying $50 million back then. Last year the tech giant and the league announced a renewal of that partnership, which brought 11 games broadcast by Fox on television to an audience watching on Prime Video and Amazon-owned Twitch across a variety of sites, apps and devices.
