The future is fragmented: How streaming will change NFL viewing – Yahoo Sports

There was coincidental symmetry in the NFL announcing a new, streaming-enhanced broadcast package on the same day the NCAA mens tournament began. Why? Because where the NCAA tournament is now, the NFL will be soon.

The early rounds of the tourney are famous (or infuriating, depending on your point of view) for the mad, nationwide scramble to figure out where the hell TruTV is. Its a case of careful-what-you-wish-for. Yes, its great to have the opportunity to see every single game live if you want to, but the tradeoff is that you have to navigate through a thicket of broadcast options and, before long, subscription streaming services.

The NFLs new 11-year, $100 billion-with-a-B broadcast rights package is a reaffirmation of the standing order and a complete break with tradition. Yes, all your favorite stalwarts Fox, NBC, CBS, ESPN will continue to broadcast the most valuable property on television. Beyond that, a new player Amazon has entered the chat, and the role of streaming services in bringing games to you is going to only increase. Football on your phone was a cute gimmick when the Brothers Manning rapped it back in 2013 but by 2030, its going to be the norm.

(That video still rules, though it appears DirecTV is out of the NFL market under this new deal.)

This new broadcast arrangement isnt aimed at anyone who remembers Howard Cosell. This is meant to capture the people who know Madden only as the name of a video game franchise, not as a broadcaster or coach. The days of knowing exactly where every game will be shown, every week, are coming to a close.

The NFL would undoubtedly prefer to have all its fans watch games only on over-the-air channels. Thats where tradition lies "Monday Night Football" on ABC/ESPN, NFC games on Fox, AFC games on CBS but its also where the most money lies at the moment. Streaming services draw in only a fraction of the eyeballs (and, hence, revenue) of broadcast TV. NFL games regularly dominate ratings, both seasonally and historically. Twenty-nine of the top 30 broadcasts of all time are Super Bowls the "M*A*S*H" finale is still hanging in there and Sunday Night Football has been the top series on TV for the past 10 years running.

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In the NFL, tradition lasts only as long as its profitable. The league began playing football on Monday nights in the 1960s as a way to edge the NFL into competition with scripted TV. Monday Night Football launched in September 1970 and immediately became a broadcast institution appointment television decades before that term was invented.

MNFs ratings suffered in the 2000s, and the franchise moved from ABC onto ESPN to start the 2006 season. That year also marked the debut of Thursday Night Football, as the league expanded its weekly reach further. Its tough to remember now, but the games move to ESPN was met with howls of protest from fans complaining they wouldnt be able to watch games on cable.

Less than a decade later, the league broadcast its first game entirely on the web a Jaguars-Bills London game streamed right here on Yahoo Sports. (It was a fascinating story; heres an in-depth breakdown of how it all came together.) Again, the idea of watching a football game only on the phone or laptop was met with condescension, if not outright derision. Fast-forward to this years Super Bowl, where CBS reported that an average of 5.7 million fans per minute streamed the game, a record by a large margin.

So the future of the NFL is digital, but you already knew that. Thursdays news made it clear, however, that for many games, the future will be only digital. Amazon acquired the exclusive rights to "Thursday Night Football," marking the leagues first all-streaming package. And tucked into the news release was the tidbit that Peacock, NBCs streaming service, will deliver an exclusive feed of a select number of NFL games over the course of the agreement.

What this all means for you, the consumer, is that youre going to need to start signing up for more streaming services and remembering more passwords. Amazon, ESPN+, Paramount+, Peacock, and Tubi all will carry games, some matching the broadcast, some exclusively and if you dont know a Peacock from a Tubi, well, youre going to have to figure it out.

What it also means is that the entire broadcast format of the NFL could change, perhaps slightly, perhaps dramatically. The NFL has already experimented with multiple broadcast teams on a single game. Now imagine a range of Amazon feeds with widely varying broadcasters, from former players to semi-retired broadcasting legends to Gen Z influencers to completely announcer-free booths. Imagine if the concept of a commercial break no longer had any meaning, since broadcasters' revenue would be coming from subscription fees. Imagine a Nickelodeon-style feed, where the game itself is only one part of the total package. Streaming opens up broadcast opportunities that network and cable cant touch, and thats a net benefit for fans.

Big questions loom for the NFL and its many broadcasters: how far down the streaming rabbit hole will fans chase the league? How many fans will sign up for streaming services or, lets be honest, borrow passwords so they can watch a Week 7 Packers-Bears game? Will the weekly challenge of wheres-the-damn-game drive away casual fans, or will it become an endearing scavenger hunt like in the NCAA tournament?

Getting fans trained to jump from service to channel to service is a challenge for 2023 and beyond. For now, lets see if we can figure out where the Gonzaga game is playing.

Football and your phone, made in America. (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com.

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The future is fragmented: How streaming will change NFL viewing - Yahoo Sports