Fox reportedly in mix to rip away key NFL game from ESPN
Fox Sports is on a roll.
First, the network snagged Thursday Night Football from NBC and CBS, signing a five-year deal through the 2022 season to cover 11 TNF games per season. The NFL Network and a digital partner, not yet selected, will air the other games.
Fox agreed to pay $660 million per year and about $3 billion over five seasons for the Thursday Night Football package.
Now, a report states Fox may get a little more football tossed its way.
ESPN could be about to lose its NFL wildcard playoff game to Fox. SBJ's story: https://t.co/LDTJOtI7Zg
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) February 12, 2018
As part of the Thursday Night package, Fox is also in line to get an additional playoff game, according to Sports Business Journal.
While it hasn’t been determined which game that will be, Sports Business Journal reports it may be the Saturday afternoon wild-card game that ABC/ESPN currently broadcasts.
ESPN negotiated the righs to that wild card game in 2015 as part of its Monday Night Football package. But in that deal, the NFL reserved the right to revisit the deal on occasion.
In 2016, NFL revisited the deal and said ESPN had to broadcast the game on ABC as well as ESPN.
Now, the NFL is revisiting the contract again, and the speculation is it will move the playoff game away from ESPN/ABC.
“The NFL alluded to the possibility of moving the game in the ‘Thursday Night Football’ (request for proposal) it sent out late last year. In that document, the league asked broadcasters to bid on a playoff game, though it did not specify whether that game was ESPN’s,” writes Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand.
“Fox’s ‘Thursday Night Football’ bid is believed to include considerations to carry that game,” Ourand adds.
The Saturday afternoon wild-card game is typically the lowest-rated playoff game of the year. Further, Fox already has the rights to one wild-card and one divisional round game, as well as the NFC championship game and the Super Bowl every three years.
This year, ESPN/ABC covered the Titans-Chiefs AFC wild-card game, which attracted 22.2 million viewers. That was down 14 percent from last year’s Raiders-Texans game which drew 25,6 million viewers.
The 2016 Chiefs-Texans AFC wild-card game also attracted about 25.6 million viewers.
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