By Amy Tennery and Rory Carroll
(Reuters) – A pair of Christmas Day games on Netflix will help the NFL build on its international footprint, league officials say, as the most popular professional league in the United States hopes to harness the streaming platform’s global appeal.
The two games – Kansas City Chiefs v Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens v Houston Texans – will be available to almost all Netflix’s more than 270 million international subscribers.
While the games are in the U.S., the Netflix broadcasts are an extension of the NFL’s push for global dominance.
Charlotte Offord, General Manager for NFL Australia, expects fans in the growing market to tune in even though Down Under the games start in the early morning hours the day after Christmas.
“The Netflix initiative is so great for us,” she said.
“The nice thing about having Netflix live on Boxing Day morning is creating this new tradition. It’s another tent pole moment on the NFL calendar for fans to really engage and lean into. And it’s still a public holiday.”
The games also serve Netflix, which is working to harness the enduring popularity of live sport worldwide and will broadcast Wednesday’s contests in five languages — English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and French.
Over 100 million viewers tuned in for Netflix’s first live boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, and the streaming giant last week signed a deal to broadcast in the United States the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cup soccer tournaments.
‘REALLY EXCITING’
“The fact Netflix have leaned into this so much, marketed it so well around the world, and then they’re going to service those fans and countries maybe where English isn’t the first language with local language commentary, the same games, I think it’s really exciting and probably speaks a lot to the growth of the NFL globally,” said NFL UK General Manager Henry Hodgson.
Hodgson was part of the team who brought the first NFL game to London in 2007 when over 80,000 people piled into Wembley Stadium to watch New York Giants beat Miami Dolphins 13-10.
The NFL has hosted multiple games each year in Britain since 2013 – aside from the COVID-disrupted 2020 season – and recently announced that Spain would become the fifth country to host a game in the international series in 2025.
There will be greater focus on the sport internationally in the coming years, with flag football set to make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Offord said she hoped flag would be part of the Brisbane Games in 2032 as well.
“We’re exporting the sport of football worldwide,” said Neal Pilson, President of Pilson Communications and former president of CBS Sports. “Netflix is a great vehicle to do it.”
With 272 games in a regular season, the NFL is well-positioned to embrace a streaming future while maintaining its position in traditional platforms, said Pilson.
“The trend in all major sports (is) to put more and more product on the streaming services. But, at the same time, the NFL is pretty careful to keep the bulk of its product in the United States on traditional carriers. Because frankly, that’s where the money is right now,” he added.
“They’re blessed – let’s put it this way – with having a tremendous amount of attractive inventory. So they can service the networks, the cable channels, the affiliates, local stations and their growing audience watch their product and a lot of other product on laptops, streaming devices.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York and Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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