Earlier this week, we told you that the National Football League had confirmed it was putting a package of Thursday Night Football games out to bid. Now we're hearing details of the Request for Proposals for Thursday Night Football from the NFL.
John Ourand in Sports Business Daily reports that the NFL wants the winning bidder of the package to allow its games to be simulcast on NFL Network. So no matter how many games the network receives, NFL Network will continue to air Thursday Night Football.
Let's try to wrap our heads around this. Ourand writes that the NFL has asked networks to bid on Thursday Night Football. It can bid on as many games as it wants for the entire season. The only Thursday night games that cannot be touched are the season opener and Thanksgiving night which are contracted to NBC. Games between Weeks 2 and 16 are in play.
It was originally thought that the NFL would split the Thursday night package down the middle, 8 games for NFL Network and 8 games for another network with the first half going to the winning bidder. Now, it appears that the game has changed and the bids can go for as many games so long as they're also broadcast on NFL Network.
With this in mind, one has to think that the rights fee would be lower than desired. CBS' Jason La Canfora reported that the NFL was hoping to receive in the neighborhood of $800 million from the winning network. To have the games simulcast on NFL Network would bring down the rights fee significantly, but the NFL is also looking at the big picture.
Losing games on NFL Network could cause the cable and satellite operators to seek rate reductions from the NFL. By keeping a full season of games on NFL Network, the league can continue to charge providers $1.20 per subscriber.
All of the NFL's current partners and Turner Sports received invitations to bid. By spring, we should know who will be broadcasting Thursday Night Football along with NFL Network.
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