It’s clear based on the company’s recent aggressive pursuit of big-money deals that Amazon wants to build a sports media empire.
Prime Video already owns rights to “Thursday Night Football” as well as the NFL’s new Black Friday games. The multinational company also begins a new 11-year, $20 billion deal with the NBA next season, but Amazon apparently has its sights set on a much bigger prize: the Super Bowl.
In a recent interview with Ben Strauss of the Washington Post, VP and global head of Prime Video Sports Jay Marine confirmed the company wants the streaming rights to the Super Bowl and plans to make a bid for it in 2032 when the NFL broadcast rights are up for negotiation again.
“The NFL changed the way people looked at us,” Marine said. “…Would I like to broadcast the Super Bowl? Yes.”
Marine also added that Amazon, which also has a five-year deal to broadcast the U.S. Open in the United Kingdom, doesn’t plan on limiting itself to owning streaming rights to just one sport or one country stating. “I believe we will be a major sports broadcaster in every major market around the globe.”
It’s clear that Amazon no longer wants to take a backseat to television networks like ESPN, NBC and the like. It certainly wants to beat other direct-to-use streaming platforms to the punch in the sports world. ESPN+ will broadcast a Week 7 “Monday Night Football” game next season, Peacock streamed a wild-card game last season and will stream a Week 1 game next season in Brazil, and Netflix will broadcast two Christmas Day games next season.