If you have an Amazon Prime account, it's going to do more than just get you free two-day delivery over the next three years and that's because the company has agreed to a new deal with the NFL that will allow the tech giant to stream Thursday games through 2022. The two companies announced on Wednesday that they've agreed to a deal that will allow Amazon to stream Thursday Night Football games for the next three seasons. Under terms of the deal, Amazon will be allowed to stream 11 TNF games per year on both Prime Video and Twitch. The 11 Thursday games in the deal will be the same 11 that air on Fox each season.
The upcoming NFL season will mark the fourth straight year that Amazon has been streaming games. The company first acquired Thursday streaming rights in 2017 after outbidding online companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The tech giant than re-upped with the NFL in 2018 with a two-year deal that was worth an estimated $130 million (or $65 million per season). Although exact terms of the new deal haven't been released yet, CNBC has reported that Amazon will be paying more than $65 million per season this time around, which means the total value of the new three-year deal is likely worth more than $200 million.
Although Amazon will be paying a higher price, the company will be getting a rare bonus in return. As part of the new deal, Amazon will be given exclusive rights to stream one regular season game globally on Prime Video and Twitch. The game that airs on Amazon will be played on a Saturday during the second half of the season. The two teams playing in the game won't be known until the regular season schedule is released. Of course, the NFL won't be completely ditching televisions for that game as it will be available on over-the-air TV in the markets of the two teams that are playing (For instance, if the Amazon game is Lions-Bears, then fans in Chicago and Detroit would be able to watch on TV without streaming it).
The NFL giving exclusive rights to a regular season game to a non-television network is a highly rare thing that almost never happens. The only other time the league allowed a streaming company to air a game came in 2017 when Yahoo was given rights to a Ravens-Jaguars game that was played in London.
Brian Rolapp, the NFL's Chief Media and Business Office, said that sticking with Amazon for three more seasons was an easy decision for the NFL.
"As our relationship has expanded, Amazon has become a trusted and valued partner of the NFL," Rolapp said in a statement. "Extending this partnership around Thursday Night Football continues our critical mission of delivering NFL games to as many fans in as many ways as possible both in the United States and around the world."
Amazon has been dabbling in NFL-related material since 2016 when the company unveiled its "All or Nothing" series. With "All or Nothing," Amazon developed a documentary where the company followed around one team for an entire season. Over the past four years, the online company has documented an entire season of the Cardinals (2015 season), the Rams (2016 season), the Cowboys (2017), the Panthers (2018) and the Eagles).
The one catch with all NFL things on Amazon is that you have to be Prime member to watch.