Netflix might acquire a piece of NFL Films, claims report
- ByStartupStory | April 9, 2022
According to sources familiar with what occurred at last week’s annual owners’ meetings, The Athletic reported this week that the NFL is in talks with media companies about selling equity in NFL Films. Netflix was reportedly the most notable company that was mentioned.
It has ventured down the road of sports documentaries and reality programming, while Netflix has given no indication that it will cover live sports any time soon. Titles such as “The Last Dance,” “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” as well as the upcoming reality series around the PGA, are also included in this.
Today, on Netflix there are no live games, nor a ton of sports content. Such a move would give a spot in the sports arena of the streaming world by the streaming service.
Regarding the NFL Media process, which were all represented on slide presentations at the meeting, the league has also reportedly spoken with Amazon, Apple, ESPN, Paramount, Peacock, Roku, Fubu, and DAZN, the Athletic claimed. With live sports and the benefits behind it, is all familiar to all these media companies.
From its long-marketed minority stake in NFL Media, the process could ultimately result in a portion of NFL Films being sold separately. In addition, for a partner that can help distribute content, the NFL is apparently on the hunt.
There’s also the question if the league will include an equity stake in the Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package in NFL Media or NFL Films. Currently, for the NFL Media stake, as well as Sunday Ticket, Apple is considered the frontrunner. However, on Thursday Amazon has Night Football, so there’s a big possibility that it will be considered as well.
Since DirecTV’s deal, the decision is still a ways away for Sunday Tickets has another season to go, and for the equity piece, there is no ticking deadline.
The NFL will have to try a little harder with streamers, while that may fly with networks.
Although with the hefty price tag, Netflix may have no problem, being that it invested $17 billion on content last year, by upping its prices the service also compensated for this. The company raised its basic plan to $9.99/month (up from $8.99), the standard plan to $15.49/month (which used to be $13.99), and its 4K tier is now $19.99/month (compared to the previous $17.99).
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