It’s official! The NFL is coming to Amazon Prime Video on Black Friday for the first time in league history starting next season.
The NFL has flirted with the idea of adding a matchup on the Friday following Thanksgiving for some time now, but Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network confirmed Tuesday that the league and Amazon have reached a partnership for a Black Friday game in 2023. The participating teams remain unknown, but Rapoport said kickoff is expected to be at 3 p.m. ET.
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“Thanksgiving is synonymous with football, and we’re excited to give our fans another day of NFL action during this holiday weekend,” Hans Schroeder, chief operating officer for NFL Media, said of the announcement.
Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the biggest days of the NFL season, featuring three primetime matchups. Amazon intends to treat Friday’s game as equally high profile, according to Marie Donoghue, vice president of global sports video at Amazon.
“Given what the day already means to millions of Americans … and also, the fact that there were no NFL games on that day, we thought we could treat it like a Super Bowl,” Donoghue told the Associated Press.
The Black Friday game is part of a partnership between Amazon and the NFL that debuted this season. The streaming giant’s primary role is serving as the exclusive provider for all Thursday Night Football matchups.
NFL
The partnership, which runs through the 2033 season, averaged $1.2 billion per season. Amazon is expected to pay an additional $50 to $70 million per year for the additional game.