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Fox and the NFL have agreed to a five-year deal for Thursday night football games.
Those games previously were televised by CBS and NBC, two of the league’s other network partners. Fox announced Wednesday that it will televise 11 games between Weeks 4 and 15, with simulcasts on NFL Network and Fox Deportes.
Fox, which has the Sunday afternoon NFC package, will produce all of the games under the deal, which is worth a little more than $3 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the terms of the deal who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league didn’t announce its value.
“This is a single partner deal, we are not splitting the package,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a conference call. “We had tremendous amount of interest from all the broadcast partners, all of whom wanted it exclusively. We felt this was the best opportunity for the NFL to grow the Thursday night package.”
Goodell added that the league is exploring partnerships with digital outlets, in conjunction with Fox.
The NFL has broadcast deals “five years out” with its other partners — ESPN has the Monday night package — so five years on this agreement made sense.
“Fundamentally, Fox was built on football,” said Peter Rice, president of 21st Century Fox, nothing that 25 years ago, the NFC package “helped launch a fledgling network into what it is today.”
“These opportunities come along very, very infrequently,” he added. “You either have the rights to the most-watched content in media or you don’t. If you don’t take the opportunity, this won’t come up again for five years. We believe in buying the very best rights, and the best rights are the NFL.”
CBS and NBC each paid $450 million for the previous two-year package.
“We explored a responsible bid for Thursday Night Football but in the end are very pleased to return to entertainment programming on television’s biggest night,” CBS said in a statement. “At the same time, we look forward to continuing our terrific long-term partnership with the NFL on Sunday afternoons, with more than 100 games per season including next year’s Super Bowl 53.”
Fox could have a conflict if weather causes a World Series game to be postponed from Wednesday to Thursday. In recent years, Series Game 2 and 6 have been scheduled for Wednesday.
“In that hypothetical kind of a scenario, the World Series game would stay on Fox and our Thursday night game would become an FS1/NFL Network simulcast,” Fox spokesman Eddie Motl said.
Catch rule to be scrutinized • Goodell wants to see the mystery of the NFL’s catch rule solved.
“On the catch/no catch rule, we need to find a rule we think will address that,” he said. “We certainly need to get this rule right so everyone can appreciate.”
He said the competition committee will discuss it this offseason.
“I would like to start back, instead of adding to the rule, subtracting the rule,” he said. “Start over again and look at the rule fundamentally from the start. … I won’t tell you there won’t be controversy (in the future), but we need to get to a better place.”
He also announced that the Rams will play a home game in Mexico City against the Chiefs next season. Until the new stadium in Los Angeles is ready in 2020, the Rams are likely to play one home game a year elsewhere.
Gronkowski makes progress • Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski remained in the concussion protocol for New England’s first Super Bowl practice in Minnesota.
According to a pool report of the workout, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Gronkowski took part in non-contact drills and is “working his way back.” He has been in the league’s concussion protocol after taking a hard hit in the AFC championship game.
Quarterback Tom Brady practiced fully, wearing black tape on his injured right hand.
All the Eagles players except defensive tackle Tim Jernigan participated in practice, according to a pool report. Jernigan has an illness that coach Doug Pederson said is a “24-hour deal.”
It’s Mahomes’ time in KC • The countdown to the Patrick Mahomes II era in Kansas City began the moment the Chiefs traded up to select the strong-armed quarterback in the first round of last year’s draft. Now it’s on the fast track.
The Chiefs agreed to trade veteran quarterback Alex Smith to Washington late Monday, a deal that will become official with the start of the new league year on March 14. In doing so, the Chiefs made a bold statement that they’re ready for Mahomes, a prolific passer during his college days at Texas Tech, to assume the starting job for the foreseeable future.
The trade of Smith solves more than one problem. The Chiefs, drained of draft picks by previous trades, got a third-round choice in April; they acquired Kendall Fuller, one of the league’s top slot cornerbacks and a potential starter on the outside opposite Marcus Peters; and they freed up nearly $16 million in salary cap space to make additional moves in free agency.
Kansas City now has a pick in the second round and two in the third, along with selections in the later rounds, which could be used to address other pressing issues on defense.
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