Posted on 01/31/2018 8:50:55 AM PST by EdnaMode
Fox has locked up rights to Thursday Night Football for five years, stealing the ball from NBC and CBS and breaking with the NFL’s previous one-year-at-a-time approach to the night’s prime-time rights.
For the broadcast network, the games will be a critical piece of programming as it prepares for life without its studio arm, which is set to migrate to Disney under the terms of the companies’ pending merger.
This fall, Fox will air 11 games, from the fourth through the 15th weeks of the NFL season, with simulcasts on the NFL Network and Fox Deportes in Spanish. The NFL network will carry the seven other Thursday night contests.
CBS and NBC had shared games this season, paying a reported $450 million combined, with Amazon also onboard as a streaming partner. Financial terms were not disclosed, but are believed to be well north of the previous $450M. Digital rights are still available, following successive seasons of Twitter and Amazon streaming games.
“Football is in our blood at Fox and we understand that nothing beats the NFL when it comes to television that captures people’s attention,” said Peter Rice, president of 21st Century Fox. “Our historic relationship with the NFL dates back to the earliest days of FOX, and we couldn’t be more excited to expand our deep and enduring partnership to include primetime games on Thursday night.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has been under pressure to shore up faltering TV ratings, said the Fox arrangement continues the league’s strategy — one that has prompted criticism for over-saturating the airwaves with games.
“This agreement is the culmination of over 10 years of strategic growth around ‘Thursday Night Football,'” Goodell said, “a period during which this property has grown from a handful of late-season games on the NFL Network to a full season of games and one of the most popular shows on broadcast television.”
Good for them.
I wonder what size TV audience was assumed to arrive at the contract amounts, or if Fox protected itself should audience size continue to fall?
I hope Fox got a good deal, as ratings will continue to
decline.”
This ^^^^^^. I will not be watching.
Not sure.
That makes sense. Looks like Fox will go to mostly sports and reality shows in the future,
Ed
But FOX Sports isn’t FOX anymore, is it...
It’s Disney. And ESPN.
Fox must need a tax deduction for a stated loss.
That was dumb if the NFL keeps kneeling.
>>>I hope Fox got a good deal, as ratings will continue to decline.
Sources peg deal at more than $660 million average per year. Per game average on TNF: 2014-15 (CBS): $37.5 million 2016-17 (CBS/NBC): $45 million 2018-22 (FOX): $60 million+
Won’t be watching.
Other way around. Fox Sports and News is all that’s left of Fox anymore. Everything else is Disney.
Fox=SUCKERS!
You can do that once and shake it off, you can’t continue to lose 10-15% year after year. The NFL is headed for a reckoning. Eventually the owners will either have to cut the huge salaries or go bankrupt. If they attempt to cut salaries, the result will be a strike. If they break the strike ESPN and the leftist sports media will crucify them. If they don’t break it they go bankrupt.
At some point it may survive but only with a reduction in teams, salaries and audience. My twenty-one year old son a cop could care less about the NFL. My fifteen year old watches the Pats.
I never understood the appeal of Thursday Night Football, or even Monday Night Football. Back when I used to watch football, I generally only watched the team(s) I followed. I never saw the appeal of watching a game when I had no rooting interest in one of the teams. I am the same way with baseball. I follow the Astros and watch a lot of their games, but have no interest in the Game of the Week if the Astros aren’t one of the teams.
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