CBS and NBC Will Share Thursday Night NFL Games, NFL Gains $150 Million [UPDATE]
By Jason McIntyre
In a mild surprise, CBS and NBC will share Thursday night NFL games in 2016, the league announced Monday. CNBC speculates that each network will pay the NFL $225 million in the deal.
CBS paid the NFL Network $300 million for eight games in 2015. So basically, they’re gaining $150 million … without giving up anything. CBS will get five games, NBC will get five games, and the NFL Network will simulcast all of the games they will.
Roger Goodell wins again.
Almost one year ago, we heard CBS was engaged in high level talks about purchasing a large chunk of the NFL Network. The league denied it. The New York Post reported the same after we did. We even heard that both sides were hoping to make a splashy announcement this week (CBS will televise the Super Bowl this Sunday).
In our story, it noted a small cabal of influential NFL owners were “frustrated” that the NFL Network wasn’t making that much money. A partial sale of the NFL Network was explored.
But you know what’s better than a partial sale? Giving up nothing and pocketing an extra $150 million.
[UPDATE: The Big Lead briefly spoke with CBS boss Sean McManus about the deal. “It was a good day for us,” he said. McManus couldn’t get into specifics about how CBS got the five games early in the season and NBC the five games late in the season. “It was a negotiation we had with the NFL.” Would games later in the season have playoff implications? Or if the Thursday game didn’t involve teams in the playoff mix, would anyone care?
He didn’t want to comment on our report about CBS trying to purchase a chunk of the NFL Network. On the impending streaming deal – these Thursday night games will also be streamed online – and whether it will further cut into the CBS/NFL Network audience, McManus said, “I think it’s only going to expand the audience. As long as we work out a deal with advertisers, all it really does is increase the audience.“]