Don’t try telling TV executives that the NFL is waning in popularity. Fox just landed the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package in a five-year, $550 million deal that begins next season.
Fox reportedly won the bidding war over CBS and NBC, which aired TNF games the past two seasons.
JUST IN: Fox gets Thursday Night Football package for next five years. Sources peg deal at more than $660 million average per year.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 31, 2018
Per game average on TNF:
2014-15 (CBS): $37.5 million
2016-17 (CBS/NBC): $45 million
2018-22 (FOX): $60 million+
From John Ourand of Sports Business Daily:
As part of the deal, Fox will carry 11 TNF games per season. Those games will be simulcast on NFL Network and a digital partner still to be named. NFL Network will carry an undetermined number of games exclusively in order to adhere to its pay-TV affiliate deals. As part of the deal, Fox picked up expanded mobile rights for its Thursday and Sunday games.
In addition, Ourand reports that Fox’s top announcing team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will not be calling the Thursday night games.
