Amazon has emerged as a frontrunner to purchase a minority stake in the NFL’s media properties including NFL Network, RedZone, and NFL.com.
The deal is not done and it is still possible that another private entity swoops in to purchase these properties, sources told Front Office Sports. Any last minute snag could push a final agreement back by several months.
Starting in 2022, Amazon Prime Video will become the first streaming service to control an exclusive package of NFL games, paying $1 billion a year for the rights to “Thursday Night Football.”
The relationship between NFL and Amazon goes back years, including Amazon Web Services providing the computing power for NFL’s Next Gen Stats starting in 2015 and Amazon is in its fifth season of streaming Thursday games on a non-exclusive basis.
This relationship between Amazon and the NFL already in place puts Amazon in a preferred position when it comes to a purchase on NFL’s properties, says Ed Desser, president of Desser Media.
“The NFL is also very, very good about going to the dance with the one that brought it. Amazon has now been in the family for years. They get a preferred position just like the other major networks.” said Desser.
Amazon is also bidding for the “Sunday Ticket” package against Walt Disney Co., Paramount Plus, Apple and others, said sources. Bidding for Sunday Ticket could reach $2 billion to $3 billion a year.
The NFL is working from a typical position of power for the league, as they signed lucrative media rights deals with Amazon, ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports and CBS Sports in March worth over $100 billion.