With just three games left under the current NFL media rights deals (which began in the 2014 season), here is a refresher course on what is in store when the new deals kick in next season:
The league has retained all of its current linear broadcast partners (CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN/ABC), will continue its deal with Amazon to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football, and has swapped NFL Sunday Ticket providers, ending its decades long relationship with DirecTV and moving the out-of-market package over to YouTube TV. All told, the NFL stands to collect over $12bn in annual revenue from its broadcast partners over the next 11 years. With a new decade and change of deals in place, NFL fans can expect a slightly altered viewing experience beginning next season. Here is what fans should prepare for.
Flex scheduling comes to Monday nights
Beginning next season, flex scheduling will be extended to ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The procedures for flexing a game to Monday night will be similar to the current procedures in place for NBC’s Sunday Night Football. ESPN will be eligible to flex Sunday afternoon games to Monday night between Week 14 and Week 17. Games must be flexed a minimum of 12 days prior to its scheduled start time, meaning ESPN would have to decide on flexing a game by Tuesday the week prior to a matchup.
The need for flex scheduling on Monday Night Football was on full display late this season, when ESPN went without a single matchup between teams with a .500 or better record after Week 10 (Commanders vs Eagles). That’s the exact situation the NFL finds itself trying to avoid by expanding flex scheduling to Mondays.
Flexing a game from Sunday to Monday will present challenges that moving a game from Sunday afternoon to Sunday evening does not. Primarily, this will inconvenience traveling fans that may plan to attend a game weeks or months in advance, only to have the game switched from a Sunday afternoon to a Monday night. However, the NFL is certainly willing to trouble the small number of attending fans for the benefit of pleasing a much larger television audience.
In addition to flex scheduling, ESPN and ABC will also carry three split-network Monday Night Football doubleheaders each year (on top of the Week 18 doubleheader simulcast). The networks carried one split-network doubleheader this past season, in Week 2 — with ESPN carrying Titans-Bills at 7:00 PM ET and ABC airing Vikings-Eagles at 8:30.
FOX and CBS conference affiliations go out the window
The NFL has decided to do away with the current “cross-flex” model to determine when FOX or CBS get games outside of their affiliations with the NFC and AFC, respectively. Under the current deal, FOX airs games between two NFC teams, and inter-conference games where the NFC team is on the road. Meanwhile, CBS airs games between two AFC teams, and inter-conference games where the AFC team is on the road. The NFL can then “cross-flex” games between FOX and CBS at their discretion, to expand the distribution of noteworthy games.
According to John Ourand in Sports Business Journal, “Starting in ’23, FOX and CBS will identify a specific number of teams that it wants to carry for a specific minimum of games. It is not known how many teams or games are part of this process, which will occur at some point before the official schedule release.”
Ourand explains that as FOX still has the NFC package, they will only pick NFC teams, while CBS, still having the AFC package, will only pick AFC teams.
So while fans can still expect a heavy dose of NFC teams on FOX and AFC teams on CBS, the NFL will have greater flexibility to put games on whichever network they want. NFL VP of Broadcast Planning Mike North says regarding scheduling for the 2023 season, “All games are jump balls, all games are free agents.”
For fans accustomed to the current AFC/NFC split, there will be some confusion initially. But on the whole, this new setup will allow the NFL flexibility to put the best games in the best time slots, regardless of conference affiliation.
Playoff schedule shakeup
With the recent expansion to a 14-team playoff structure, the NFL has a few more playoff games to divvy up between the networks. The AFC Championship will remain on CBS and the NFC Championship will remain on FOX. However, there are some slight changes to the distribution of Wild Card and Divisional Round games.
Notably, ESPN will be granted one Divisional Round game each year, in addition to the one Wild Card game they had previously. ESPN did not have rights to any Divisional Round games in their last contract.
CBS will continue to get one Wild Card game and one Divisional Round game. Additionally, they will get a second Wild Card game in the 2024, 2029, and 2033 seasons.
NBC will also continue to air one Wild Card and one Divisional Round game each season. They will get a second Wild Card game in 2026 and 2031.
FOX will continue to broadcast playoff games in each round of the playoffs. It’s unclear exactly when FOX will air two Wild Card games, but given the years announced by the other networks, one can presume FOX will be airing two Wild Card games more years than not.
(ESPN confirmed to Sports Media Watch Monday that it gets only one Wild Card game per year under the new deal.)
Super Bowl rotation
The Super Bowl rotation through 2033 is set. FOX, CBS, and NBC will all air three Super Bowls during the term of the new contract while ABC will air two. Here’s how it shakes out:
2022: FOX (end of old contract)
2023: CBS (start of new contract)
2024: FOX
2025: NBC
2026: ABC
2027: CBS
2028: FOX
2029: NBC
2030: ABC
2031: CBS
2032: FOX
2033: NBC
Sunday Ticket finds a new home
The NFL finalized their much anticipated Sunday Ticket deal last month, coming to terms with YouTube TV. This marks the end of DirecTV’s long run with the NFL’s out-of-market package, a partnership that began in 1994. NFL fans that require Sunday Ticket will now have to watch their games via a streamer, a significant change for those accustomed to watching with their cable subscription. NBC’s Peter King speculates that the package will run around $300 per season, although nothing official has been announced.
One RedZone to rule them all
For the first time since 2009, fans looking for whip-around coverage on Sunday afternoons will only have one choice: NFL RedZone hosted by Scott Hanson. For years, fans have had the option to watch Hanson’s RedZone, owned and operated by the NFL, or Andrew Siciliano’s NFL Sunday Ticket Red Zone, owned and operated by DirecTV. The NFL’s decision to move the Sunday Ticket package off of DirecTV and onto YouTube TV spelled the end for Siciliano’s version of the show – which debuted in 2005 and was the first show to offer whip-around style coverage of the NFL.
Streamers get exclusive games
The NFL continues to show its commitment to digital by carving out games exclusive to streaming. The upcoming season will have exclusive games on three separate streaming services: Amazon Prime, ESPN+, and Peacock.
Amazon Prime, in addition to its usual Thursday Night Football package, add an exclusive game on Black Friday. ESPN has negotiated for one exclusive game per season on their ESPN+ streaming service. And NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, will have one exclusive game per season between 2023 and 2028.
