Roger Goodell on a streamed Super Bowl: "It's certainly possible"
For the NFL, the only constant is change.
Well, the other constant is the effort to chase (and catch) as many dollars as possible.
Those two dynamics could eventually overlap in the form of a Super Bowl televised not by a three-letter legacy network but a dot-com streamer.
Lurking in a story from Jordan Rodrigue of TheAthletic.com regarding the league's current fascination with YouTube is an acknowledgment from Commissioner Roger Goodell that a streaming Super Bowl is not off the table.
As to the notion that a company like YouTube or Amazon or Netflix could finagle a Super Bowl in the next wave of broadcast-rights deals, Goodell said (per Rodrigue) "anything is possible."
With a changing media landscape, the way it changes as fast as it changes, it's certainly possible," Goodell said.
Yes, anything is possible. And everything is possible.
Goodell's recent acknowledgment that talks will begin in 2026 with existing partners on an extension of deals that can be scrapped by the league after the 2029 season can be interpreted in multiple ways. One way is this - make an off-the-charts financial demand and, if it's not happily and readily accepted, open the door for an outside-the-boob-tube approach to the next wave of contracts.
The league's overall approach seems to be not to leave a willing partner holding the bag, but to pull extra chairs to the table. The NFL is already doing that, periodically robbing the CBS/Fox Peter to pay the YouTube/Netflix Paul. When it's time to throw all of the deals up for grabs, it could be that the traditional packages will yield to a potpourri approach, where NFL game content lands with anyone that is willing and able to pay the ever-increasing cover charge.
Although Prime Video CEO Jay Marine recently has said his company would like to stream a Super Bowl, it makes sense for the first one that isn't televised in the usual way to land with YouTube, which presumably would make the game available on a worldwide basis for free. Which, if true, would further explain the surprising move by YouTube to inflate its viewership for the free Chiefs-Chargers game in Brazil from a very disappointing 16.2 million to a less disappointing (but still disappointing) 18.3 million.
The key ultimately could be, frankly, an equity deal. Said Goodell, "[T]he NFL has been a part of every one of those periods where I think our content has actually helped accelerate successfully those platforms. That's what we want to continue to do, and streaming is clearly that."
If the presence of the NFL can "accelerate successfully" any/every platform that has games, it makes sense for the NFL to want to share in that growth. Not by cashing a big check, but by owning a not-insignificant piece of the platform.
That's the biggest significance of the recent NFL-ESPN deal. It unlocks a new frontier for doing business. Getting paid is nice. Getting a piece of a booming business is even nicer.