What to expect when the new NFL TV rights deal kicks off next season 

A new NFL TV rights deal is set to kick off at the start of next season. The league announced a new 11-year deal with its television partners in March 2021. The deal is rumored to be worth a total of $113 billion and runs until the end of the 2033 season. The NFL, however, has the right to terminate the deal anytime after the seventh year.

Certainly, a new deal means a number of changes will be expected to be implemented in the broadcast of league games. The new deal will see CBS, ESPN, NBC, and Fox continue to air live games. This could mean not many changes will be noticed from the network standpoint. However, a couple of other aspects will witness significant tweaks.

In this article, we will explore a couple of things NFL television audiences should expect to see while catching up with live matches from the start of the upcoming season.

Thursday Night Football: Now exclusive to Amazon

The new deal will see Amazon become the sole provider of "Thursday Night Football." In the previous deal, the game was broadcast on Fox and simultaneously streamed on Prime Video. However, the new deal takes Fox out of the picture, giving the tech giant the exclusive rights to broadcast the game on its platform.

The deal, however, includes a clause that allows the game to be available on over-the-air television in the markets of the two teams playing a Thursday night game. Amazon Prime Video may also get the privilege to exclusively stream one Wild Card playoff game, if certain viewership targets are met in the Thursday Night package.

More Monday Night doubleheaders

Over the years, the NFL has continued to feature a Monday doubleheader as part of the league's Week 1 schedule. The new developments will see the league further expand this offering. This is aimed at increasing the level of excitement for fans.

A total of three Monday night doubleheaders will now be included in the league schedule when the new deal kicks off next season. The expansion will see one of the games shown on ESPN, while the other game from the Monday night schedule will be aired on ABC.

Final Week Saturday doubleheader

The NFL does not typically schedule games on the Saturday of the final week of the regular season. However, the new deal will effectively put an end to this. The league commenced a trial of that in 2021, and the new TV deal will now make that the norm.

Two Saturday games on the final week of the NFL regular season will be broadcast by ESPN. The contract details include playoffs implications for ESPN. This obviously suggests that the league will be fitting games into this spot.

Streaming networks get a fair share

Amazon will have exclusive rights to Thursday night games, but it doesn't end there for the fast-rising streaming giant. NFL fans will get to stream more live games on streaming services owned by television networks that have league broadcast rights.

NBC's Peacock streaming service will get the right to exclusively broadcast six regular-season games. ESPN+, on the other hand, will exclusively air one international game every season. Paramount+ has also been granted an expanded right in the new deal.