PRIME MOVERS
DURING internal Amazon meetings to discuss how it wants to deliver live sports to fans, executives have a saying: “Your game, your way.”
It’s catchy, and it provides insight to Amazon’s approach as it continues to increase its marquee live sports offerings. While there is anticipation regarding how Amazon will cover the NFL after its recent multibillion-dollar deal for exclusive rights to “Thursday Night Football,” top sports media executives, agents and broadcasters are asking one question: What is Amazon building? Upon close examination, it’s apparent what Amazon is trying to do — and so far, so good. With its endless pockets and more than 200 million Amazon Prime subscribers, Amazon is shopping in the Tiffany aisle of world sports.
Last month, it became official that Amazon will be the home of “Thursday Night Football,” beginning in either the 2022 or 2023 NFL season. This Sunday afternoon, Amazon will simulcast PIX11’s broadcast of the Yankees-Rays game. That will be the first of 21 Yankees games Amazon will stream locally this season.
The internet is about niche, connecting people — quickly— with what they want, when they want it and how they want it. It can be argued no one has mastered this idea better than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. On the largest scale, Amazon has brought this game plan to its acquisition of sports rights.
The NFL is the most coveted property nationwide in American sports TV. Locally, the Yankees are probably the most valuable. Internationally, soccer and cricket would fill both of these categories. What do you know? Amazon keeps adding rights to the likes of Premier League, Champions League and international cricket in the 240 or so countries that have its app.
Depending on where you live in the world, these games are becoming a part of Amazon Prime, which costs $119 per year in the United States.
“I always keep it pretty simple,” Amazon vice president of global sports video Marie Donoghue told The Post. “Prime is a membership service. Prime Video is a benefit. My job is pretty simple — to use sports to drive value for the Prime membership.”
The Yankees and the NFL in ‘Prime’ time
On Sunday, Amazon’s Yankees simulcast will be available within the YES geographical imprint. But viewers will not need to be YES subscribers, just Prime members.
That will allow fans to watch the Yankees-Rays on any of Amazon’s platforms. The production will have a YES feel to it. The 15-minute pregame show will feature the likes of Bob Lorenz, Jack Curry and John Flaherty.
Amazon’s simulcast of PIX11’s coverage will include Amazon’s “X-Ray” capabilities, which will allow viewers to access stats on their screens without using a second device.
Amazon could be transformative in the use of multiple feeds in its forthcoming NFL production — an area in which the next growth of sportscasting may come.
When Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” exclusivity begins, Donoghue and company are expected to present a traditional feel in a main feed, as well as many alternative presentations. This isn’t entirely new. Many networks, led by ESPN’s multicast, have done varied presentations of games. Amazon will lean in there.
“We think the opportunities are endless,” said Donoghue, who joined Amazon after working for ESPN.
For “Thursday Night Football,” Amazon is expected to hire a bigtime play-by-player and one or more analysts for its traditional view.
Amazon already has created the first all-female NFL broadcast duo, with Hannah Storm and Andrea Kremer as an alternative to Fox’s Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on Thursdays. With full “Thursday Night Football” ownership, Amazon will expand.
That could lead to a more localized broadcast, Donoghue said. She did not mention this specific idea, but it seems reasonable to sync up the radio broadcast with the game.
With its ownership of Twitch, a streaming platform primarily focused on video games, Amazon is well-positioned in the watch-party approach. There are fan and gambling opportunities in the broadcast space, which sites like Barstool Sports already have popularized.
It might even mean the return of the NFL broadcasts without announcers, which Donoghue said proved popular as a feed on Premier League games in England.
What’s next?
An Amazon Super Bowl is a long way off. The new 11-year NFL deals, which begin in 2023, will keep the Super Bowl on network TV every year through the mid 2030s. Amazon’s NFL deal gives it the rights to a playoff game if it reaches certain viewership marks. It will pay the NFL around $1 billion a year for its 15 regular-season games. But Amazon may not be done. NFL Sunday Ticket, the subscription service through which fans can watch every game on Sundays, is still up for auction.
“We talk to them about everything and anything,” Donoghue said.
Sunday Ticket feels like the ultimate “your game, your way” acquisition because it provides a season ticket for out-of-town fans to view their favorite teams.
The NFL, the Yankees, Premier League, on and on. Put it all in your checkout cart, and you might find a budding sports media empire with free shipping.