You could hear the groaning in the upper Midwest when the NFL playoff schedule appeared Sunday night and fans saw that Prime Video would broadcast the Packers-Bears wild-card game Saturday night. Though it might not be the most convenient outlet for fans, the NFL sent a clear signal that streaming is a priority for the present and future of its media rights.
The Sun-Times has learned that all five NFL TV partners — CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC and Prime — politicked to carry Packers-Bears or 49ers-Eagles, viewed as the top two first-round matchups. The NFL’s general principle is to put the biggest game in the time slot with the biggest viewership, which is 3:30 p.m. Sunday. The draw of those matchups is such that the league could flip a coin.
Most of the discussion within the NFL, which has final say on the schedule, was about what to do with the other game. Normally, it would be played at 7 p.m. Sunday, but the NFL chose to lean into its burgeoning relationship with Prime Video’s owner, Amazon. In the end, it granted the league’s longest-running rivalry to its newest weekly partner for 7 p.m. Saturday.
While the NFL remains committed to keeping games on broadcast TV, it wants streaming to be a significant part of its media rights. Though it takes fans a little more effort to watch streamed games, they’re finding them. Prime had the best viewership in the 20-year history of “Thursday Night Football” this season, averaging 15.33 million viewers, up 16% from last season.
One of the NFL’s goals was to draw a younger audience, and according to Prime, it has. The company said “TNF” this season drew an audience with a median age of 49.4, almost seven years younger than audiences watching NFL games on linear networks. But more older folks are tuning in, too. Of people 55 and up, “TNF” viewership increased 19% from last season, the biggest jump among age demos.
Prime has disabused the notion that a package of games can’t succeed on a streamer. As a result, the NFL is talking with Amazon, Netflix, YouTube and others about the future. There’s talk of the league creating a package of games played in Europe that would kick off Sunday mornings. Those potentially could air worldwide on a streaming service.
Getting Packers-Bears is a boon for Prime. Had the league put Bills-Jaguars on the streamer, plenty of fans wouldn’t make the effort to watch it. The draw of a Packers-Bears game ensures many will, and it extends what has been a favorable schedule for Prime all season.
The NFL discussed putting Packers-Bears on Monday night for ESPN. The thinking was that the winner would provide an anchor for Sunday of the divisional round. The league wouldn’t schedule a team that plays Monday for the following Saturday. However, it stuck with its precedent of picking a game with 4-5 seeds and chose Texans-Steelers.
When planning the wild-card schedule, the NFL takes Week 18 and the divisional round into account. NBC, in particular, wanted Packers-Bears for “Sunday Night Football,” but considering it essentially had a playoff game in Ravens-Steelers on Sunday, it was passed over. That figures to give the network a good matchup in a preferred time slot next weekend.
Fox 32 (WFLD) will carry Prime’s broadcast of Packers-Bears in the Chicago market. The NFL mandates that games that air on cable or a streamer also air on broadcast TV in the participating teams’ local markets. Fox 32 also carried Prime’s broadcast of the Bears-Eagles game on Black Friday. The league expects the game Saturday to kick off at 7:05 p.m.
