The new partnership with NBC will add even more money into the league’s already robust coffers, with both NBC and CBS coughing up a combined $450 million for the rights to broadcast the 10 Thursday night games.
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The new agreement, which could be announced as early as Monday, is a marked departure from the previous two Thursday Night Football contracts, which were with CBS alone.
The NFL also said it was in “active” talks with potential partners for streaming Thursday Night Football games.
The NFL is in discussions with prospective digital partners over those rights and could reach an agreement in the coming days. The league is going to sell streaming rights to the games separately, rather than including them in the deal with CBS and NBC. The deal with CBS and NBC covers the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
The NFL isn’t finished extracting revenue from Thursday nights.
“The NFL has the most powerful programming on television, and we are delighted to expand our primetime schedule to 24 regular season games”, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke. Thursday Night Football is an important addition to NBC’s No. 1 ranked primetime lineup, and the flawless complement to our award winning Sunday Night Football broadcast.
Starting in the 2016 season, the league will split Thursday games between CBS and NBC. “The NFL is a terrific partner, and we could not be more pleased about expanding our relationship”.
Each network will produce the games that they broadcast, utilizing their own National Football League announcing teams and other personnel.
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The networks will carry five games each beginning in 2016, with NFL Network simulcasting those and handling the rest itself. That works out to $45 million per game.
