In an interview last month that did not attract widespread notice until this past weekend, NFL VP/broadcast planning Mike North shed some light on the league’s thinking regarding streaming services.
Discussing a variety of schedule-related topics on the “It’s Always Gameday in Buffalo” podcast April 13, North confirmed the league will likely sell its new five-game media rights package to a streaming service, a move he characterized as increasing the availability of those games — most of which previously aired on ESPN as part of “Monday Night Football” doubleheaders.
“You’re going to move [the games] off of what amounted to ESPN only, which is down to 50 million homes,” North said. “If they end up on a YouTube, a Netflix, an Amazon, a streamer that’s arguably more widely distributed, you can make a case that it’s more fan-friendly. Everybody gets their paper towels from Amazon, everybody watches Netflix, and everybody can access YouTube for free, like they did last year with that Brazil game.”
The four ex-“MNF” games are being packaged with the league’s Week 1 International Series game from Australia in a bidding process that has reportedly included YouTube, Netflix and Fox Corporation. But North made clear that streamers are the favorite in the negotiation. “We’ll take those five games, probably deploy them in national windows, probably on a streaming partner,” he said.
The “Monday Night Football” doubleheaders typically featured one game on ABC and an overlapping game on ESPN, the latter of which usually attracted an unusually small audience. “Fans vote with their remotes, and they told us pretty clearly, two games on Monday wasn’t something that they were interested in,” North said, expressing some surprise that the doubleheader format did not resonate with viewers.
Technically, the doubleheader inventory Disney gave up as part of its NFL Network deal consisted of the three ABC-exclusive windows and one on ESPN+ (which last season was flexed to ESPN). But with ABC and ESPN simulcasting a single game in those weeks instead — as described by North in the interview — the change amounts to dropping four ESPN-exclusive editions of “MNF.”
It would be no surprise if the league sees streaming as a wider platform than cable. While the overwhelming majority of NFL game windows last season aired on broadcast television, the majority of non-broadcast windows aired on streaming services (21 across Amazon, Netflix and Peacock) rather than cable (15 across ESPN and NFL Network). The comments would likely have been regarded as conventional wisdom before the streaming backlash that has arisen in recent years, as the entire point of streaming was to eliminate the expense and inconvenience of cable.
Nevertheless, the comments provide some insight into the league’s media distribution strategy, and its approach to streaming, at a time when it faces federal scrutiny over its deals with streaming services.
It is worth wondering whether the league sees streaming as being more or less fan-friendly than broadcast television. North did not discuss broadcast in the context of the five-game package, except to say that if the league put the games “on a Sunday at 1:00, CBS and FOX [would be] grateful for the extra inventory, but most fans aren’t going to get to see those games.” But that would have to do more with the timeslot and regional format than the distribution method.
North’s 90-minute interview covered all manner of scheduling-related topics, including a potential delay to the annual schedule release due to negotiations over the five-game package and potential adjustments to the scheduling of Chiefs games due to Patrick Mahomes’ ACL injury.
Another notable item is that North did not rule out the league exercising its flexible scheduling option for holiday games on Christmas and Thanksgiving when asked directly about the possibility. The league’s Christmas Day slate last season featured games that looked strong on paper, but ended up pitting moribund teams. “Right now, we don’t contemplate flexing Thanksgiving and Christmas, but never say never. … I don’t think that’s something that we are actively contemplating right now, but give it another bummer Christmas like we had last year, and I’m sure the voices will get louder, and some voices carry more than others. And never say never.”
