Amazon announced on Tuesday, (March 7) that the first-ever NFL game on Black Friday will air for free on Prime Video.
The game will take place this upcoming season in the 3 p.m. ET time slot, featuring the same crew that heads Thursday Night Football. The teams will be announced at a later date.
Prime Video will kick off the 2023 holiday season with an early present for @NFL fans: Free access to the first NFL Black Friday stream on November 24https://t.co/Y04eXQspbH
— PrimeVideoSportsPR (@PrimeSportsPR) March 7, 2023
Amazon has already dipped their toe into the NFL, as their partnership to run Thursday Night Football took shape this past year. Commentators Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit as well as sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung and a plethora of desk stars manned Thursday nights for the first time on Prime Video, and now they get to take on the first NFL game on the day after Thanksgiving.
“We’re excited to expand our relationship with the NFL and build a new holiday tradition for our customers with the first Black Friday NFL game,” said Jay Marine, vice president of Prime Video and global head of Sports, per release. “We’re so very proud of our Thursday Night Football production and all the teams in front of and behind the camera. As families look to spend time together over the holiday weekend, we are excited to provide an opportunity for everyone to enjoy this new day of NFL action.”
Amazon also announced that the game will be streaming for free, even for people without a Prime subscription. This is the first time the company has put the NFL in front of a paywall, as Thursday Night games are only available to those who are subscribed to Prime.
Generally speaking, the Thursday Night games were profitable for Amazon, who signed a $1 billion-a-year contract to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football until 2033 back in March 2021. According to Nielsen ratings, the 15-game package on Prime Video in 2022 averaged 9.58 million viewers and it was the most-watched program of the night 13 times.
I wrote in the fall about the coming NFL vs. CFB TV battle.
This Black Friday game is at 3 p.m. because the NFL can't broadcast Friday nights/Saturdays until mid-December, because of a law signed by JFK that protects CFB: https://t.co/aM4gRIk2Pj https://t.co/rWFCAltBA2
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) March 7, 2023
Interestingly, as The Athletic’s Chris Vannini pointed out, the NFL was forced to take the midday time slot because the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 prohibits professional football from playing after 6 p.m. on Friday nights from September to early December in order to protect high school football attendance. College football has capitalized on this, scheduling games like Iowa vs. Nebraska on Black Friday every year — including this upcoming season — despite their new competition.
Are you excited to watch the NFL on Black Friday? Let us know by leaving a reaction at the bottom of this post or by tweeting us @celebsecrets.
