After years of speculation, Netflix now appears on the verge of finally entering the live sports space with an NFL Christmas doubleheader.
Netflix has emerged as the leading contender to acquire the NFL’s Christmas Day games this season, John Ourand of Puck reported Thursday, substantiating a claim that was originally made by Boomer Esiason on his radio show this week.
The games would mark easily the most significant live sports programming ever carried by Netflix, which has rarely carried live programming of any kind.
As the company that ushered in the era of streaming and remains the biggest player in the space, Netflix has long been viewed as a potential contender for sports rights. Until this point, it has given zero indication that it is a serious player.
Per Ourand, the potential NFL-Netflix deal does not necessarily mean that Netflix will emerge as a bidder for longer-term packages of games. The Christmas games would instead have more in common with the one-off events Netflix has carried in the past, including this past weekend’s live roast of Tom Brady.
The NFL did not originally plan to play Christmas games this season, as the holiday falls on a Wednesday — outside the league’s normal days of operation. It is perhaps for that reason that the league is free to sell rights outside of its existing partners, none of whom have a claim to Wednesday games. (Fox has said it owns rights to a Christmas game “as the schedule allows,” which is presumably up to the league’s discretion.)
It is not clear yet how much Netflix would pay for the games. The potential deal is believed to be the reason why the NFL schedule release was pushed back from this week to next.
