LOS ANGELES.- Netflix will broadcast its first two American Football League games (NFL) next season, in another foray by the streaming giant into the live sporting events market.
This Wednesday, the NFL announced that Netflix will have exclusive rights to two of the iconic Christmas Day games as part of a three-year deal whose financial details were not specified.
One of the games will feature the Kansas City Chiefs of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, current NFL champions, against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the other the Houston Texans against the Baltimore Ravens.
“There are no annual live events, sporting or otherwise, that can compare to the audience that football attracts. We are very excited that the NFL Christmas Day games are only on Netflix,” he said in a statement the platform's content director, Bela Bajaria.
Until now, Netflix's sports offering has focused mainly on the production of documentary series on competitions such as the NFL itself, Formula 1 or tennis.
However, the platform is little by little venturing into live events, such as the tennis exhibition held by Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in March in Las Vegas or the boxing match between the legendary Mike Tyson and the 'youtuber' Jake Paul on July 20.
Unstoppable growth for the NFL:
For its part, the NFL is increasingly betting on expanding its reach through streaming networks, as it already began to do in 2022 with the Thursday game on Amazon Prime.
“We couldn't be more excited to be the first professional sports league to partner with Netflix to bring live games to fans around the world,” said Hans Schroeder, executive vice president of the NFL.
