The Jaguars’ Oct. 25 game with the Bills is Jacksonville’s most anticipated regular-season NFL game in at least a decade — maybe ever. The curiosity around this game, which will kick off at 9:30 a.m. from London, has nothing to do with how the team performs on the field. Rather, the sports community is focused on this game to see how the team performs online.
Yahoo paid around $15 million for the rights to stream this game worldwide, sources said, marking the first time that one of the NFL’s regular-season games will be streamed to an international audience. Nobody knows how many people will watch it. Nobody knows whether the technology will work with a mass audience. Nobody knows how the NFL will capitalize on this over the next several years. But Yahoo is in the market selling it already with an initial asking price of $200,000 per 30-second spot.
The game has been part of many of my conversations over the past five months. Who would have thought that an October Jaguars-Bills game would generate so much interest? Here are some of the most common questions people have about this game.
■ How can people see it?
If you’re in Buffalo or Jacksonville, it will be available on local TV. It will be streamed globally exclusively on Yahoo platforms. Users will be able to access the game cleanly, without any authentication or sign up.
■ Will it be on Sunday Ticket?
No. Think of this game as a national game, akin to ones produced on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights. Sunday Ticket was created around out-of-market Sunday afternoon games.
■ What about NFL Mobile from Verizon?
No. Yahoo bought the exclusive streaming rights.
■ Who’s producing it?
CBS Sports, which means that the announcers, producers, directors and graphics will be from CBS. It will look like a CBS telecast. I expect the production quality to be akin to one of the network’s regional Sunday afternoon games.
■ Does that mean we should expect CBS’s worst announcers?
Don’t expect Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to call the game. I am guessing that CBS will use its third or fourth broadcast team. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon call the game.
■ What’s the big deal with this game? TV networks have been streaming NFL games for years.
This is different. The NFL picked up a rights fee that sources said is at least $15 million for the one game. The game is not available on any other platform in the U.S. — other than local TV in Buffalo and Jacksonville. As importantly to the NFL, the game will be available globally. In fact, the odd 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff will be prime time in Asia, which is a big attraction for NFL executives — though I doubt many Jaguars or Bills fans live in Shanghai. Still, this represents a dramatic test by the country’s biggest sports league, one that is testing a new form of distribution that surely will be watched by everyone in the business.
■ Why is the NFL doing this?
NFL executives have been clear in describing this as a test. They want to see if the technology works. NBC’s live stream of the Super Bowl set records for average viewers per minute (800,000), concurrent users (1.3 million) and total minutes (213 million). Of course, the Super Bowl also set viewership records on U.S. TV. NFL executives expect that this regular-season game will break that mark because it will be available globally and won’t be on TV outside of Buffalo and Jacksonville. NFL executives expect the technology to be able to handle it. But they are curious to see.
■ Wouldn’t the NFL attract more viewers if it streamed, say, a Cowboys-Giants game rather than these two small-market teams?
Let’s face it. This is a dog of a game. The league opted for a less popular game as the best way to test the infrastructure to make sure it works. The league does not want to risk angering fans with frozen computer screens during one of Tom Brady’s two-minute drills.
■ Does this mean that Yahoo will bid for the NFL’s Thursday night package?
That’s certainly what the NFL wants. More bidders always turn into higher rights fees. It’s unlikely that Yahoo, Google, Amazon or Microsoft — companies that kicked the tires on this game — would bid enough on the “Thursday Night Football” package, which will come up for bid after this season. But in 2022, when the NFL’s other packages are up? Who knows? You can count on the NFL streaming at least one or two games a season after this year.
■ Who’s handling ad sales?
Yahoo has been in the market shopping the game for several weeks. Sources say its initial pricing is at $200,000 per 30-second spot with no viewership guarantees. It also is selling a presenting sponsorship around the stream and packages that include pre-rolls around NFL programming leading up to and coming out of the game. Selling ads is the only way for Yahoo to recoup its $15 million investment. Yahoo is responsible for 96 percent of the ad inventory, with the league keeping control of 4 percent — standard for most NFL deals.
■ How are ad sales so far?
Ad buyers are intrigued, but none that I’ve contacted have made the leap. “Most of my NFL clients have their eye on it but are not diving into it yet,” said Adam Schwartz, director of national broadcast, sports media for Horizon Media. “Everyone’s curious, but there’s a lot of NFL opportunities out there. My clients are always interested whenever the NFL introduces something new to the marketplace.” Expect the same ad placements, format and feel of a traditional broadcast.
■ What’s holding them back?
It’s never been done before. Nobody has any idea how many people are going to watch online. Yahoo developed its pricing off of Fox’s London game last season, which brought in a 5.5 household rating. After decades of basing NFL game buys around Nielsen TV ratings, advertisers are unsure about how to move forward with this game.
John Ourand can be reached at jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ourand_SBJ.
