The NFL announced today that it has reached an agreement with CBS and NBC to expand its Thursday Night Football package for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. While all of the Thursday night games will continue to be either aired or simulcast on the NFL Network, CBS will now show five of the games, while NBC will show another five.
According to a CNBC report (via Twitter), the fees for the Thursday night rights will be approximately $450MM. Although CNBC doesn’t specify, it’s probably safe to assume that each network will be paying that amount for the right to air a total of 10 games each – five per season – in 2016 and 2017. In 2015, CBS paid $300MM for eight games, so a bump up to $450MM for 10 apiece makes sense.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the league:
- Former Cowboys running back Joseph Randle has run into more trouble off the field, according to Matt Peterson of the Dallas Morning News, who reports that Randle was arrested early Monday morning in Irving and booked on a speeding charge. Randle’s off-field behavior was a factor in the Cowboys’ decision to release him in the fall, and it’s hard to imagine him getting a chance from another team if those legal issues persist.
- In a piece for PhiladelphiaEagles.com, Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net focuses on the top quarterbacks available in this year’s draft, writing that Carson Wentz‘s stock is on the rise, and he and Jared Goff could both be top-five picks this spring. NFL decision-makers are also bullish on Christian Hackenberg‘s upside, and he’s expected to come off the board in the top 75 picks.
- Within that same piece, Pauline also suggests that Ohio State’s Nick Vannett could be the first tight end selected in the draft, and says Boise State safety Darian Thompson saw his stock rise at the Senior Bowl.
- In a memo, the NFL Players Association has indicated that agents are now required to contact the union at the “beginning of substantive discussions” on veteran re-negotiations worth at least $2MM per year, tweets Rand Getlin of the NFL Network. While the exact reason for this change is unclear, Getlin – citing “smart folks behind the scene” – suggests it may be a reaction to players signing extensions that didn’t thrill the NFLPA (Twitter link).
Hopefully this new NBC involvement increases the Michaels-Collinsworth pairing’s airtime. They’ve been by far the best on-air tandem this season and probably throughout the 2010s. Always good to bring in different voices if so.
Ugh Collinsworth is the worst. I’m a Gator fan and I can’t even stand him.
Usually, I tend to side with the PA, but in this case they need to back off. If a player wants to sign a contract that is team-friendly, or at a hometown discount, or in general isn’t looking to break the bank, then that is the players choice. The PA should have no influence over that. There are plenty of players looking to keep pushing the values of contracts higher and higher that the PA can rely on – leave the athletes who choose not to alone.