Amazon’s anticipated Thursday Night Football deal would include “many” exclusive games, according to The Wall Street Journal. Plus: Rece Davis does soccer, and more.
Amazon would carry Thursday night games exclusively, per WSJ
Amazon is close to a deal to carry “many” Thursday Night Football games exclusively, rather than simulcasting them with NFL Network, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The games would not be available on any traditional television network outside of the home markets.
Only a handful of NFL games have been carried exclusively via a streaming platform, most recently 49ers-Cardinals on Amazon this past December.
Per WSJ, NFL Network would still air a “handful” of games in the TNF package, as it is required under its carriage agreements to air at least five games per season. To this point, NFL Network has aired every game ever played in the TNF package, even if most of those have been simulcasts of late.
Amazon could pay as much as $1 billion/year for the Thursday night package, according to the report. [WSJ 3.3]
ESPN’s Davis to host “Euro 2020” as part of new deal
ESPN announced this week that it has reached a contract extension with College Gameday host Rece Davis, who will continue in his current roles and host coverage of this summer’s scheduled UEFA “Euro 2020” soccer tournament — his first such assignment since 2008. Davis has been with ESPN since 1995. [ESPN PR 3.1]
Plus: Irv Cross, Mike Pearl, Kevin Mayer, WNBA
Former CBS NFL analyst Irv Cross died over the weekend at age 81. Cross was part of the “NFL Today” team that included Brent Musburger, Phyllis George and Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder. … Longtime sports television executive Mike Pearl, who produced the aforementioned “NFL Today” and Turner’s “Inside the NBA” in those shows’ formative years, recently died at age 77. … Former Disney executive Kevin Mayer is replacing John Skipper as chairman of DAZN, it was announced Wednesday. … ESPN is scheduled to carry this year’s full WNBA Draft, per an ESPN advance schedule, marking the second-straight year the flagship has carried the event. Prior to last year, the draft aired on ESPN2 and ESPNU. [ESPN.com 2.28, Sports Video Group 3.1, Front Office Sports 3.3, ESPN PR]
