NFL And Amazon Looking To Own ‘Black Friday’

There’s a reason why the NFL and Amazon are the nation’s richest sports league and online retailer, respectively. They’re always looking for untapped business opportunities.

Starting next year, the NFL and Amazon will stream a newly scheduled “Black Friday” game the day after Thanksgiving. 

The move presents business opportunities for both the NFL and Amazon. 

The NFL typically schedules a tripleheader on Thanksgiving. An additional game enables the league to extend its dominance of the holiday into another day — when much of the country is off from work. 

Amazon, meanwhile, can deflect some consumers away from Black Friday shopping sprees at brick-and-mortar retailers. And if they decide to replace that trip to Walmart with a Cyber Monday splurge on Amazon’s web site, then all the better.

Details on NFL/Amazon’s Black Friday plan:

• The first Black Friday game is scheduled to kick off Nov. 24, 2023 at 3 p.m. ET. Teams will be announced when the NFL releases its 2023 schedule. 
• Amazon is paying the NFL $1 billion a year for rights to “Thursday Night Football” through 2033. The league declined comment on whether Amazon is paying extra for the game. But Peter King of NBC Sports previously reported Amazon bid $70 million to $100 million.
• Amazon’s TNF announce crew of Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung, and Taylor Rooks will call the Black Friday game.

“Thanksgiving is synonymous with football, and we’re excited to give our fans another day of NFL action during this holiday weekend,” said Hans Schroeder, chief operating officer of NFL Media in a statement. “Amazon is uniquely positioned to partner with us for this game as ‘Black Friday’ is one of the most important days of the year for their business.”

Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s vice president of global sports video, believes the game will start a new “tradition.” Yes, there could be opportunities to drive Black Friday viewers from the football game to their retail site. 

“That is a day when millions and millions of people visit our site. We will start with the customer first. They are coming first and foremost to watch a football game,” she said.

Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s chief media and business officer, hopes next year’s debut grows into a long-time, tentpole property. “Our intention is to have a game on Black Friday until it doesn’t work,” he said.

Amazon is off to a strong start as the NFL’s first exclusive streaming partner, averaging 10.8 million viewers over its first five TNF games this season.