An NFL playoff game will again air exclusively on a streaming service next season, but it will be Amazon Prime and not Peacock.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Amazon will carry an NFL Wild Card playoff game next season, marking the second time that a playoff game will be available exclusively via a streaming service. (As with the Peacock game, coverage would be available on over-the-air-affiliates in the participating markets.)
Per the WSJ report, Amazon could have aired a playoff game this past season, but chose to pass on the opportunity. The NFL then shopped the game to Peacock, which for the price of $110 million aired Dolphins-Chiefs on Wild Card weekend and averaged nearly 23 million viewers (including about a million who watched over-the-air simulcasts in Kansas City and Miami).
It would seem likely that the relative success of the Peacock game helped Amazon overcome any trepidation. That there was any trepidation at all would seem surprising, given Amazon had successfully streamed a season of Thursday Night Football without much difficulty and is paying $1.1 billion a year over the next decade for the opportunity. While the price tag of $110 million is high for a single game, it is not much higher than the $73 million per game average for TNF.
Peacock reportedly wanted to air a playoff game again, but the NFL had only one extra playoff game to shop next season (CBS has two contractually, then FOX, NBC and ESPN/ABC have one each).
Amazon now has 17 total NFL games next season — not counting its preseason game — between its 15-game TNF slate, Black Friday game and playoff game.
Barring a change of plans, the addition of a playoff game to the Amazon schedule means that Al Michaels will return to the postseason after being left off the NBC roster this season. Michaels had called a playoff game every season dating back to the 1990-91 campaign.
