The NFL announced new television deals with incumbents NBC, CBS and FOX Wednesday that will result in several changes to the league’s television schedule.
The NFL has agreed to nine-year television deals with NBC, CBS and FOX that will run from the 2014-15 season to the 2022-23 season.
Under the new deals, the three networks will continue airing the same packages as in the current deal — the Sunday night package for NBC, the AFC package for CBS, and the NFC package for FOX.
However, there will be several noteworthy changes:
- The NFL can expand the Thursday night slate: Starting next season, the NFL will have the option to expand the Thursday night package, which is currently limited to eight games on NFL Network.
- NBC gets Thanksgiving night game … : Also next season, NBC will begin airing the annual Thanksgiving night game, which had previously aired on NFL Network. Considering that the Thanksgiving games on CBS and FOX this season both drew over 30 million viewers, the move should be a boon to the network.
- … and Divisional Round Game: Starting in the 2014-15 season, NBC will also begin televising one Divisional Round game per season, though that will come at the expense of one of the network’s two Wild Card games. The latter move would seem to indicate that ESPN will begin televising a Wild Card game.
- CBS can air NFC games and FOX can air AFC games: Also starting in the 2014-15 season, flexible scheduling will expand to allow the NFL to move games into the 4:15 PM ET national window without regard to network. In other words, the league could move a CBS game to FOX and vice versa.
The rest of the deal is as one would expect. The Super Bowl will air in a three-year rotation on NBC, CBS and FOX, with FOX getting the last Super Bowl of the deal in 2023.
Earlier this year, the NFL signed an eight-year extension with ESPN that will allow the network to air Monday Night Football through the 2021-22 season, leaving the primary NFL broadcast packages secure for the remainder of the decade.
(Wednesday’s news from NFL, NBC Sports Group, Fox Sports Media Group and CBS Sports press releases via Fang’s Bites)
