The NFL schedule was released on Wednesday night as teams learned where and when they were playing their opponents. The league’s ever-expanding presence has grown internationally and there’s even a game on Wednesday this year on Christmas Day.
NFL Insider Brian Baldinger of the Audacy Sports Podcast “The Best Football Show” talked about the league’s expanding footprint with new networks being added each year.
“Thursday, Friday, Saturday – especially during the holiday season –, Sunday, Monday. They want to own it,” Baldinger said. “They want to own television.”
Baldinger played in the NFL from 1982 to 1993 before becoming an analyst for Fox in 1997. He’s heard all of the annual seminars from different networks.
“Television and television revenue is what this whole thing is about. It is greed, no doubt,” he explained. “But the only guaranteed viewership in all of television right now is the NFL. That’s it. The Oscars, all the different shows, there is none. It’s gone. So it is about primetime NFL football.”
The NFL has gone from being a TV-only product to one that is spread out across various platforms. Amazon joined in on the action a few years ago, Peacock joined them last year, and Netflix is getting in on things for their Christmas Day game this season.
“That’s why Amazon is in it. That’s why Peacock got into it. That’s why Netflix is paying $150 million for two games this year,” Baldinger continued. “$150 million to split amongst 32 owners because all the dividends are shared equally among the 32 teams.”
Despite some questions in the past about the NFL’s growth, there seems to be no end in sight for the league’s television success.
Well, we have been saying for years that at some point the NFL is going to reach a saturation point. It’s not even close to happening. The ratings just keep going up,” Baldinger said. “Even though it’s getting diluted – it’s harder to find Peacock for some people but people found it. People found Amazon Prime. People that don’t subscribe to Netflix – I don’t know if there are many of them out there – they are going to find Netflix. It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens on Christmas. Netflix, they’re here to stay and they’ll have a bigger part.
“So the pie keeps expanding. We can’t get enough. We love watching primetime football.”
As long as people are watching, the television and streaming platforms will pony up to provide expanding coverage of the NFL.