It has been revealed that Amazon has bought exclusive rights to the Thursday Night Football deal. This means that it will be aired exclusively via Amazon Prime streaming services. This is a first for the world of sports. Switching from cable to streaming as an exclusive rights holder for Thursday Night Football. What does this mean for non-streaming viewers and sponsors?
It is true that Thursday Night Football Games will concurrently be shown in local areas for those fans. On terrestrial TV. So, if you are a local fan and don’t have a streaming plan with Amazon, you can still watch. But this does not solve the issue for the rest of America - especially the betting public that cares so deeply for all aspects of NFL football.
But does this mean that streaming services will be successful enough to be a major rights player going forward? Streaming services are gaining traction and cable is slowly dwindling. That's not new news. But is this the first step to making games first and foremost on streaming platforms?
I personally think that this is something that will slowly evolve, but never fully take over. Sports are the one thing that people continually turn to for cable. While streaming is on the rise, I just don’t think this switch will cause all games to switch fully to streaming at any time in the near future. However, I do think that streaming platforms will continue to grow into the main place where fans can watch, interact, and even live bet with games and this is just the beginning.
Times change, and sports have to keep up with the trends. However; I do not think that sports on streaming will completely replace cable. I fully see cable still having game rights and showing games on live television, just at a smaller scale. Think about when sports switched from radio only to sharing the consumer consumption with T.V. Radio still covers games to this day, but it is not the main way people choose to take in games anymore.
One thing that I think will be a huge takeaway from this is how it will impact the next generation of sports fans. Statistically, younger generations are those who utilize streaming services the most. So, in giving exclusive rights to a streaming service, you’re opening it up to even more Millennial and Gen Z individuals who may not have sat down to watch a game on cable. It will deepen the connection and loyalty with this next generation of fans while still being able to reach the boomers generation that has been loyal all these years.