Thursday Night Football is nearing its third over-the-air home in five years.
Fox Sports is close to acquiring the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package, according to multiple reports late Tuesday night. The Wall Street Journal and John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reported that a deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday, though per Bloomberg nothing has been finalized and negotiations could still fail.
Fox would be the third different over-the-air network to carry Thursday Night Football in the past five years. CBS began airing Thursday night games in 2014 and NBC joined them in 2016.
According to Ourand, Fox would simulcast 11 TNF games, unchanged from last season on CBS/NBC.
As previously noted, Fox was the only bidder offering to pay more than the current $450 million/year rights fee. According to WSJ, that amount will be “significantly” higher. Incumbents CBS and NBC bid below the current rate.
The league is said to still be negotiating live streaming rights. Amazon is the incumbent, having paid $50 million to stream games last season.
[Tue. news from WSJ 1.30, Bloomberg 1.30, Variety 1.30, Ourand/Twitter 1.30]
