Netflix has officially announced a three-year deal with the National Football League that will put live games on the streaming service for the first time, starting with two Christmas Day showdowns.
Netflix has also secured “at least one holiday game’ in 2025 and 2026, according to the official announcement.
This Christmas, Netflix will show the defending Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the Baltimore Ravens playing the Houston Texans in another AFC matchup.
The parties didn't, of course, reveal any specific on what kind of rights fees Netflix is paying. According to the The Wall Street Journal, Netflix is paying $75 million per game for the TV rights. Bloomberg, meanwhile, described the rights fee as under $150 million per contest.
"I would characterize each game as roughly the size of one of our medium-sized original films,” said Spencer Wang, executive VP of finance, investor relations and corporate development, during a Wednesday morning interview at MoffettNathanson’s annual media conference.
It's also not clear as to how these games will be produced for live-streamed television and what on-air talent will call them.
The agreement gives the NFL partnerships with the three biggest streaming companies, with the league already licensing its NFL Sunday Ticket property to Google/YouTube, as well as Thursday Night Football to Amazon.
Also read: NFL Christmas Day Games on Netflix? It Looks Like It’s Happening
For its part, Netflix has already created several documentary-style programming franchises around the NFL: series Quarterback and Receiver. Last week, it drew its biggest ratings with the comedy roast of NFL future hall of fame quarterback Tom Brady.
“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix chief content officer, in a statement. “There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts. We're so excited that the NFL's Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix.”
Added Hans Schroeder, NFL executive VP of media distribution: “The NFL on Christmas has become a tradition and to partner with Netflix, a service whose biggest day of the year is typically this holiday, is the perfect combination to grow this event globally for NFL fans.”
