Netflix gets into live sports, buys 4 Nfl American football games

Netflix has acquired the rights to at least four American professional football Nfl Championship games, a first for the streaming platform that aims to carve out a special place for itself in the world of sports. The video-on-demand service will broadcast two games on Christmas Day 2024 and at least one game on the same date in 2025 and 2026, according to a press release issued Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal claims that Netflix will pay $75 million to broadcast each of the two matches this year. The streaming giant has been making inroads into the world of sport for several years now. But until now it has been more about producing sports documentaries or creating its own events on the sidelines of major competitions. Thus it launched the documentary series 'Drive to survive' on Formula 1, 'Break point' on tennis and 'Tour de France: at the heart of the peloton' on cycling.

The platform has also produced a golf tournament, the Netflix Cup, as well as a tennis match called the Netflix Slam between Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz. On 20 July it will also host the broadcast of the match between ring legend Mike Tyson and boxer and youtuber Jake Paul. In January, it took a step forward by signing a ten-year broadcast agreement with the American professional wrestling league Wwe, for $5 billion.

But Netflix had so far stayed away from traditional competitions, officially considering their costs too high. "There is no annual event, sports or otherwise, that is comparable to the Nfl in terms of audience," explained content manager Bela Bajaria quoted in the press release. Approximately 39 of the top 50 viewership results for the year 2023 in the US were achieved by Nfl games, including the top 14.

The two games broadcast by Netflix this year will respectively feature the two-time defending champions Kansas City Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Texans against the Baltimore Ravens. During a conference organised by the Moffett Nathanson company, Netflix vice-president Spencer Wang explained on Wednesday that the platform is not "making a big investment in sports", but expanding its catalogue with unique audience-generating events.