CBS and NBC agreed to pay $225M each for the right to broadcast five NFL “Thursday Night Football” games over the next two seasons, sources said. The $450M haul for 10 games marks an increase from the $300M CBS paid for eight games last season. Specific schedules have not yet been worked out, but deal terms have CBS carrying five early-season games and NBC carrying five late-season games. NFL Network will simulcast all of those games, plus carry eight games exclusively. CBS and NBC will produce four of NFL Network’s exclusive games each. CBS wanted the early-season games to help promote its primetime entertainment schedule. "We feel that it’s a responsible deal from a financial standpoint,” CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus said. “We knew from the outset that the NFL wanted to split the package. The NFL wanted to have two big media companies promoting and showcasing ‘Thursday Night Football.’” NBC, which will become the first NFL broadcaster with multiple primetime packages, was eager to get the late-season "TNF” games to help its ad-sales schedule during the Christmas season. Including its Thanksgiving night game, NBC will carry six Thursday night games in a row -- one before Thanksgiving and four after it. “We’ll have great ad-sales opportunities that can re-coup the money,” said NBC Sports Group Chair Mark Lazarus. “The deal will bolster our affiliates and help our own stations. This is a big win for us to expand our relationship with the NFL.” Both CBS and NBC pushed the NFL to make more Thursday night games available for broadcast; the NFL settled on five each (John Ourand, Staff Writer).
SHARING MEANS CARING: SI.com's Richard Deitsch reported the deals with both CBS and NBC were "negotiated separately and finalized over the weekend." When asked if NBC was interested in "TNF" beyond '17, Lazarus said, "We are not in the short term business and we would like to be in business with the NFL for a long time on multiple nights" (SI.com, 2/1). McManus said, "We knew from Day 1 that this would be a two-network package, and our goal was to keep a piece of it." NFL Exec VP/Media Brian Rolapp noted that thought "was given to continuing with a single network." But he said, "There was clearly demand, and when we started looking at two partners, that [became] our priority." In N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes "unlike CBS, NBC was not locked into when it wanted to start its schedule" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/2). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Marisa Guthrie reported Fox "made an aggressive bid" for the "TNF" games. The net "could have used the NFL to help bolster its primetime lineup, which has been sagging since the precipitous decline of one-time juggernaut 'American Idol.'" Turner Sports also "submitted a bid," but the net "does not currently carry any NFL games and would incur new infrastructure and talent costs that would not make financial sense for such a short deal." Sources added that ESPN also was "wary about the length of the deal" and "did not aggressively bid" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 2/1).
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Moonves (l) said CBS' "TNF" package was not
profitable but there were other benefits
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GO-GETTERS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Joe Flint notes NBC was "aggressive in pursuing the Thursday games." The high ratings for NBC's "SNF" coverage "likely played a part in the NFL’s decision to cut the network in on Thursday." NBCU CEO Steve Burke said, "My sense is this is the NFL saying NBC has done [a] great job on Sunday and maybe they can bring some of that magic to Thursday." Flint notes Thursday is "considered one of the most important advertising nights of the week, since movie studios and car companies spend heavily in advance of the weekend." While CBS is "losing three games, the lower rights fees will be welcome relief as it had been losing money on the package." CBS President & CEO Les Moonves: "It is a more economically feasible package than anything else would have been. I really believe everybody won." Guggenheim Securities analyst Michael Morris estimated that CBS lost $100M in '15 on its "TNF" deal. However, Moonves said that the losses "weren’t that high." Moonves: "I won’t lie and say it was profitable, but it was more than made up for in the other benefits." Flint notes neither Moonves nor Lazarus "believed the Thursday streaming would cut into their audiences" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/2). Lazarus added that he "didn’t think the network would have too much football." Lazarus said of high-rated programming like the NFL, "There’s still a scarcity" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 2/1).
NEED THE BIG GUNS: VARIETY's Brian Steinberg wrote "at stake for the traditional outlets is something increasingly hard to come by for TV networks: massive ratings." With those ratings "come ad dollars," and "TNF" this past season "commanded an average of $462,000 for a 30-second ad." Only "SNF," Fox' "Empire" and AMC's "The Walking Dead" "cost advertisers more" in the current TV season (VARIETY.com, 2/1). Rolapp noted that the NFL this year for the first time simulcast a playoff game -- Chiefs-Texans -- on ESPN and ABC, and "most viewers tuned into ABC." He noted that the "total audience increased from the previous year's ESPN-only telecast -- even though ABC had not aired the NFL in more than a decade." The AP's Rachel Cohen noted Rolapp "figures that as fans know to look for games on Thursday nights, they'll be able to find them no matter which network broadcasts them." The "main challenge is to make sure they know to look for games on Thursdays." Rolapp: "It takes awhile to build a franchise and condition fans to know it's there." Lazarus added, "Frankly, our goal -- and what the NFL has challenged us with -- is to grow the numbers." Cohen noted Lazarus "expects NBC's younger audience will contribute to that." While CBS is the most-watched network overall, NBC "leads in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults ages 18-49." Lazarus also said that he "wasn't concerned about the quality of play on Thursday nights" (AP, 2/1).
EXPANDING REACH: The NFL currently is selling the Thursday night package’s OTT rights to a digital company. The league says that it is actively negotiating that package. Sources said companies like Amazon, Google and Apple have shown interest in it (Ourand). NFL Senior VP/Media Strategy, Business Development & Sales Hans Schroeder said that the league "intends to move quickly to resolve the issue of who should stream the games via broadband, both in the United States and around the world." Schroeder said that the league "views securing digital rights for the game as a 'top priority." He added discussions are "pretty far along." Schroeder also said that he "expects to have the matter settled 'in the next several weeks'" (VARIETY.com, 2/1). In N.Y., Claire Atkinson notes figuring out how to monetize streaming coverage of "TNF" "will be a head scratcher," as "national ad-sales rights stay with the two network partners" (N.Y. POST, 2/2).
CALLING THE FIRST TEAM: As in the past two years, CBS will use its top production team during its telecasts, including the games produced exclusively for NFL Network. NBC also agreed to use its top team, meaning that Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth will call up to nine “TNF” games on top of their Sunday night schedule. “We had discussions with Al about this, and he says he can do it,” Lazarus said. “If you watched Al this season, he was the best play-by-play voice out there. He hasn’t slowed down one step.” This past season saw “TNF” viewership jump by 61%, averaging 13 million viewers per game, making it the most-watched “TNF” season ever (Ourand). SI.com's Richard Deitsch reported NBC sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, who has young children, "asked her employer if she could bypass the Thursday night package." Tafoya will still appear on "SNF," and the net "will either use a reporter in-house or hire someone" for the Thursday games (SI.com, 2/1).
PLAYOFF PAYOFF? In DC, Mark Maske cites sources as saying that the NFL "did not include any provisions for an expanded playoff field in its new Thursday night television contracts but owners remain open to the possibility of a 14-team postseason in the future." Owners have been "giving off-and-on consideration to a measure to increase the annual playoff field from 12 to 14 teams." They "seemed at one point to have linked the expanded playoffs to the Thursday night TV package, hinting that they might shop both to the networks simultaneously." Any expansion of the playoffs remains "in the exploratory stage, now potentially included in a set of negotiations" with the NFLPA that "also involves deliberations over the system of player discipline" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/2).
