NEWSLETTER
If you believe that there is no such thing as too much football, then today’s news is right in your wheelhouse.
Amazon Prime Video, the home of Thursday Night Football, is now venturing to Black Friday beginning in 2023:
The NFL and Amazon announcing a Black Friday game will take place on Nov. 23, 2023 has game-changing potential. For starters, Black Friday football has long been a college football stronghold as a precursor to the regular-season ending rivalry finales on Saturday. It also gives Amazon a 16th game that it has broadcast rights for — and it’ll be costly, too. ESPN’s reporting pegs the per-year cost of the additional game at between $50 million and $70 million. And for fans, it provides another game to watch over an extended holiday weekend. More time with the couch and leftovers, and less time with annoying family members during the holiday season. Who’s going to say no to that?
I suppose Black Friday football has its perks. But part of me wonders if we’ll hit an over-saturation point. This year’s slate of Thursday Night Football games has been rough to watch. And this year isn’t necessarily an isolated case. Games in recent years have often been sluggish and failed to hit satisfactory entertainment levels. Who knew playing a physically demanding game on Sunday and playing with a short-turnaround for recovery and preparation would lead to a messy game just four days later? And yet, people are still tuning in. But let’s keep in mind that just because a bunch of people watch a bad product doesn’t make it good. I mean, there are millions of people who put ketchup on hot dogs. It doesn’t make them right.
All this to say that I still plan on watching the Black Friday NFL game. There will be an allure to the shiny new toy. And because the NFL wants it to work and become “a thing” in our football lives, the league will do what it can to set up a premier matchup that we can’t keep our eyes off. But if this means another Bears-Packers primetime mismatch, so help me Sweetness it’s not going to be pretty around here.
