Netflix Said ‘No’ to Live Sports, But Has That Decision Changed?
By Movieguide® Contributor
For years Netflix has been adamant it will not venture into live sports, however as more and more sporting events get added to its lineup, is this still the case?
According to Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters, just because the platform is streaming more live sports than ever doesn’t mean they play into the company’s long-term vision. Instead, the company views these one-off events as ways to build its branding by offering unique Netflix viewing experiences.
“We look at the two Christmas Day NFL games as more like an event kind of thing, where for one day football will be on Netflix,” Peters said during the FT Business of Entertainment Summit. “Hopefully, those will be amazing games and we’ll all be talking about what’s going on there. And we plan to ‘Netflix-ify’ them a little bit, so we’ll plan to have a little bit of stuff around the games with our talent and stuff like that that will hopefully make it super-fun.”
Over the past two years, Netflix has been building its platform’s infrastructure to be able to support live events. Now that its technology is sufficient, the company has looked at regular live events, such as sports, but has been unable to find anything that makes sense.
“Having THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL or the NBA or things like that, we’d love to do those things. It would be amazing,” Peters said. “We also want to do it in a way that works for the business and those have been typically challenging deals to go and do and make it work for the business.”
“Maybe we’ll figure out a way but we haven’t figured out a way yet,” he added. “[However,] I’ve learned from advertising and all these other things that you should not rule out these things categorically. There may come a time, but no plans at this point.”
This sentiment echoes the comments made by co-CEO Ted Sarandos last fall.
“We’re not anti-sports,” Sarandos said in October 2023. “We’re just pro-profit. We have yet to figure out how to do it.”
While regular live sports on Netflix are not currently on the docket, Netflix subscribers continue to have access to a plethora of sports content through the multiple sports docu-series the platform offers such as DRIVE TO SURVIVE, BREAKPOINT and FULL SWING. These series have proven to be extremely popular, and Netflix remains committed to producing them.
Movieguide® previously reported on the NFL Christmas games:
Netflix has secured the rights to host two NFL Christmas Day games this year.
The streamer will also show at least one Christmas game in 2025 and 2026.
“The Netflix Christmas Day games will also air on broadcast TV in the competing teams’ cities, and they’ll be available on U.S. mobile devices with NFL+. Netflix will pay about $150 million total for the Christmas Day games this year ($75 million per game),” Variety reported.
Those Christmas Day games will feature the Kansas City Chiefs, the reigning Super Bowl Champions, vs. Pittsburgh Steelers as well as the Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said, “Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports, and more. There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts. We’re so excited that the NFL’s Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix.”
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