214-616: NBC Sunday Night Football (abbreviated as SNF ) is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game , which opened that year's preseason. NBC took over the rights to the Sunday prime time game telecasts from ESPN , which carried the broadcasts from 1987 to 2005 . At
428-651: A conspiracy to violate antitrust law , by granting DirecTV exclusive rights to sell the Sunday Ticket product, thereby restricting competition and forcing viewers to pay super competitive prices to view out-of-market games. On June 27, 2024, a jury in Los Angeles found that the NFL had violated antitrust law in setting the price of the Sunday ticket package and ordered a penalty totaling more than $ 4.7 billion. With triple damages allowed under federal antitrust laws,
642-636: A merger on June 8, 1966, to take full effect in 1970. In the meantime, the leagues would hold a common draft and championship game. The game, the Super Bowl , was held four times before the merger, with the NFL winning Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II , and the AFL winning Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV . After the league merged, it was reorganized into two conferences: the National Football Conference (NFC), consisting of most of
856-459: A 57-year run on the network. The miniseries spin-off Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem had previously premiered as a Peacock original series. It also announced that next-day streaming of Bravo programs would move to Peacock for the upcoming television season, as NBCUniversal had invoked its option to end an agreement with Hulu for next-day streaming rights for NBC and Bravo programming. On November 30, 2022, live streaming of local NBC stations
1070-586: A 62–7 blowout while Game 4 of the 2011 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers was a more closely contested game, causing the ratings to slip in 2011. In 2012 , the NFL once again scheduled the New Orleans Saints to play on SNF in late October, this time against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on October 28 ( Denver does have an MLB team,
1284-567: A December 7 inter-conference match-up between the Baltimore Ravens and Washington Redskins displacing a New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks game. The league filled the open spot on December 28 with a game between the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers with major playoff implications, as the winner of that game would win the AFC West while the loser would be eliminated. The 2009 schedule, released on April 14, continued
1498-980: A Half Men and George Lopez , the Paramount Network series Yellowstone , as well as The Matrix films. In February 2020, A&E Networks licensed some titles from the A&;E and History libraries to Peacock. Peacock also had rights to the Harry Potter film series as part of an existing deal with NBCUniversal networks from October 2020 until August 2021, before WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros. Discovery ) took them back on September 1 of that year. The films were then placed on HBO Max . On July 1, 2020, ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global ) non-exclusively licensed some of its television series and films to Peacock, such as Everybody Hates Chris , Ray Donovan , and Undercover Boss . The service also held rights to several Paramount Pictures films under
1712-681: A Minor League Triple AAA team that is affiliated with the Pirates, and New Orleans has a Triple AAA team affiliated with the Miami Marlins . Ratings have been mixed for these results, with the NFL winning the night in 2010 while MLB won in 2011. While the Saints won both games, the 2010 matchup featuring a major rating draw in the Steelers, combined with the 2011 matchup against the Colts being
1926-488: A Peacock app was launched for Meta Quest virtual reality headsets . In November 2023, grocery delivery service Instacart announced an agreement to offer Peacock to subscribers of its Instacart+ service. The service is drawn primarily from the NBCUniversal library, including subsidiaries such as Universal Pictures and Universal Television . It is said to include at least 15,000 hours of content on-launch without
2140-517: A Sunday night game ( Pittsburgh Steelers at New Orleans Saints ) against a World Series game for the first time since the NBC Sunday night contract began. It also continued the previous practice of scheduling a Sunday night game during every week of the season and declaring the games in Weeks 11 through 16 (November 21 through December 26) as "flex games", meaning they reverted to Sunday afternoon if
2354-478: A Sunday night game on October 23). This also marked the first time the NFL announced that a Sunday night game was being moved to the afternoon without simultaneously announcing a replacement. On November 21, the matchup between the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints was flexed into the Sunday night slot. As compensation to Fox because they only had two other games in the early time slot, the league gave them
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#17327829109332568-670: A Tuesday, but the first since 1946 . This was the only game, outside of the final Sunday night, to be "flexed" in the 2010 season; the original schedule called for the San Diego Chargers to play the Bengals in Cincinnati (the game was moved to CBS and was indeed blacked out in Cincinnati). Because of this, a full 90-minute edition of Football Night aired on December 26, with a short five-minute pre-game leading into
2782-625: A blizzard; in 2012, when the Kickoff game was moved from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid conflict with the Democratic National Convention ; and in 2020, when a game was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday due to players testing positive for COVID-19 . NFL regular season match-ups are determined according to a scheduling formula. Within a division, all four teams play 14 out of their 17 games against common opponents or each other– two games (home and away) are played against
2996-417: A brief special report regarding Superstorm Sandy , anchored by Brian Williams . Sunday night games between November 18 and December 23 (inclusive) were "flex games"; they would revert to Sunday afternoon if a more competitive matchup arose. National Football League The National Football League ( NFL ) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between
3210-488: A club's franchise or any other action, he deems necessary. The commissioner can also issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the NFL has bet on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games. The current Commissioner of the National Football League is Roger Goodell, who was elected in 2006 after Paul Tagliabue ,
3424-407: A club's season being canceled, a restocking draft would be held. Neither of these protocols has ever had to be implemented. Free agents in the National Football League are divided into restricted free agents , who have three accrued seasons and whose current contract has expired, and unrestricted free agents , who have four or more accrued seasons and whose contract has expired. An accrued season
3638-616: A day late due to the NFL Committees meetings that took place on the day before. NBC wanted the game between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos as it featured a matchup between Tom Brady and Tim Tebow , two players with high popularity. While CBS did not protect that game, the network was fighting to keep the game since they had lost the aforementioned Week 13 Broncos-Vikings game to Fox, denying
3852-606: A different football code than the American game, the CFL established a niche market in Canada and still survives as an independent league. A new professional league, the fourth American Football League (AFL), began to play in 1960. The upstart AFL began to challenge the established NFL in popularity, gaining lucrative television contracts and engaging in a bidding war with the NFL for free agents and draft picks. The two leagues announced
4066-626: A digital extension of NBC's morning show Today ), as well as third-party content providers. They are designed to emulate a traditional broadcast programming experience (similar to services such as Pluto TV and Xumo , the latter of which was purchased by NBCUniversal parent Comcast in February 2020). On January 26, 2020, NBC announced plans to stream The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers at 8 and 9 p.m. ET, respectively, ahead of their television premieres on NBC . Many of NBC's affiliate groups criticized
4280-723: A distribution deal with Australian streaming service Stan , including Peacock's original programming until 2022. On July 29, 2021, Comcast and Sky announced that Peacock would launch in Austria , Germany , Ireland , Italy , Switzerland , and the United Kingdom in Q4 2021 and would be available to all Sky Q , Sky Glass, and Now/Wow (in Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom) customers at no extra cost. Peacock
4494-540: A game on October 22, which was the scheduled date for Game 2 of the 2006 World Series , but a potential conflict still existed on October 29 had the series gone to a game seven (the conflict never arose, however, as the Cardinals won the World Series in five). With the change in World Series scheduling beginning in 2007 , NBC did not air an NFL game in order to avoid a conflict with Game 4 of the World Series, which
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#17327829109334708-476: A hub featuring content from Hallmark Channel , Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Hallmark Drama . The agreement includes both on-demand content from Hallmark's library of original series and made-for-TV movies, and the live, linear feeds of all three networks. A similar agreement with Reelz (including true crime programming such as On Patrol: Live ) was announced on February 28, 2023. However, due to conflicts with Peacock's exclusivity agreement with WWE ,
4922-497: A limited exclusivity window from 2021 to 2023. On July 14, 2020, the service acquired the Canadian drama Departure for a U.S. premiere. On July 17, 2020, Cinedigm licensed over a dozen films and three streaming channels for Peacock's launch, with hundreds of other films and television episodes to follow. In January 2021, Peacock added Claudia Rosencrantz and Adrian Woolfe's streaming entertainment news channel LIT, with
5136-458: A lower pick than any team that did not make the divisional round. The Super Bowl champion always drafts last, and the losing team from the Super Bowl always drafts next-to-last. All potential draftees must be at least three years removed from high school in order to be eligible for the draft. Underclassmen that have met that criterion to be eligible for the draft must write an application to
5350-419: A minority of preseason games are distributed among the league's national television partners. Through the 2014 season, the NFL had a blackout policy in which games were 'blacked out' on local television in the home team's area if the home stadium was not sold out. Clubs could elect to set this requirement at only 85%, but they would have to give more ticket revenue to the visiting team; teams could also request
5564-540: A more attractive matchup arose. The Week 16 game, between the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles , originally scheduled for December 26, was moved to December 28 due to a major blizzard that affected most of the Eastern United States . The NFL postponed the game after Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declared a snow emergency for the city. It was the 23rd NFL game to be played on
5778-529: A more competitive matchup arose (one was; see below). The final Sunday night of the season – January 1, 2012 – was likewise a "flex game"; the slot, vacant when the schedule was released, was filled by the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants (see below). The Hall of Fame Game scheduled for August 7, and to be shown on NBC, was canceled due to the lockout that offseason; it
5992-532: A multi-year deal to distribute selected Peacock-exclusive sports programming to commercial establishments in the U.S. under the branding Peacock Sports Pass . Notable sporting events carried or simulcast by Peacock include: NBC News's digital streaming channel NBC News Now , and Sky News —a British news channel owned by Comcast subsidiary Sky Group —are carried on Peacock's free tier. NBC News and Sky News had also planned to collaborate on an international news channel for Peacock known as NBC Sky World News, but
6206-739: A number of awards for its players and coaches at its annual NFL Honors presentation. The most prestigious award is the AP Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Other major awards include the AP Offensive Player of the Year , AP Defensive Player of the Year , AP Comeback Player of the Year , and the AP Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards. Another prestigious award is the Walter Payton Man of
6420-524: A playoff bid, the number of wild card teams from each conference dropped from three to two. The playoffs expanded again in 2020, adding two more wild card teams to bring the total to 14 playoff teams. The NFL consists of 32 clubs divided into two conferences of 16 teams each. Each conference is divided into four divisions of four clubs each. During the regular season, each team is allowed a maximum of 55 players on its roster; only 48 of these may be active (eligible to play) on game days. Each team can also have
6634-695: A record 167 million people that watched Super Bowl XLVIII , the conclusion to the 2013 season. In addition to radio networks run by each NFL team, select NFL games are broadcast nationally by Westwood One (known as Dial Global for the 2012 season). These games are broadcast on over 500 networks, giving all NFL markets access to each primetime game. The NFL's deal with Westwood One was extended in 2012 and continued through 2017. Other NFL games are nationally distributed by Compass Media Networks and Sports USA Radio Network under contracts with individual teams. Some broadcasting innovations have either been introduced or popularized during NFL telecasts. Among them,
NBC Sunday Night Football - Misplaced Pages Continue
6848-425: A rematch of Week 14's Sunday night broadcast. This was the first time NBC had shown both meetings of division rivals during a regular season. The 2011 season ended with an average of 20.7 million viewers and was the highest-rated program of the 2011–12 television season, dethroning American Idol , which was the highest-rated program for eight consecutive seasons. As a further result, Sunday Night Football became
7062-536: A result has shown the football broadcasts. NBC's broadcast begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time with its pre-game show , which runs until kickoff (which usually occurs around 8:20 p.m. Eastern). The show serves the same purpose as NFL Primetime did for ESPN, offering recaps of the early action as well as a preview of the game to come. The show emanates from the NBC Sports studios in Connecticut as well as at
7276-407: A season, the result of the second game determined the title (the source of the 1921 controversy). This method had been used since the league's creation in 1920, but no situation had been encountered where two teams were tied for first. The league quickly determined that a playoff game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the league's champion. The teams were originally scheduled to play
7490-565: A simulcast with ESPN. Amazon , through their Prime Video streaming service, is the exclusive carrier of the Thursday Night Football package. NFL Network, a U.S. pay cable channel owned by the league itself, broadcasts select games under the NFL Network Exclusive Game Series banner. Games under this banner usually consist of NFL International Series games and select Saturday games. In 2023,
7704-405: A sixteen-player practice squad separate from its main roster. Each NFL club is granted a franchise, the league's authorization for the team to operate in its home city. This franchise covers 'Home Territory' (the 75 miles surrounding the city limits, or, if the team is within 100 miles of another league city, half the distance between the two cities) and 'Home Marketing Area' (Home Territory plus
7918-550: A specific exemption from the NFL for the game. The vast majority of NFL games were not blacked out; only 6% of games were blacked out during the 2011 season , and only two games were blacked out in 2013 and none in 2014 . The NFL announced in March 2015 that it would suspend its blackout policy for at least the 2015 season . According to Nielsen , the NFL regular season since 2012 was watched by at least 200 million individuals, accounting for 80% of all television households in
8132-420: A sports and pop culture-themed show co-hosted by former ESPN reporter Michael Smith and sports writer Michael Holley . In the 2021 NFL season, the channel added an NFL studio show, Sunday Night Football Final , hosted by Kathryn Tappen and Chris Simms . Fantasy Football Happy Hour and Fantasy Football Pregame with Matthew Berry premiered for the 2022 season. In August 2023, EverPass Media signed
8346-464: A subscription, and an additional 5,000 hours of content for Premium subscribers. Current episodes of NBC series are available on Peacock the day after their premiere for Premium subscribers; non-subscribers will receive them on a week's delay. Peacock also offers a lineup of about 25 curated digital linear channels, including long-form and digital-originated programming content from NBCUniversal's broadcast and cable properties (such as Today All Day ,
8560-471: A team that finishes last would play two other last-place teams in the conference. The final game is an inter-conference based on a rotating cycle and determined by previous season's standings. In total, each team plays 17 games and has one bye week, where it does not play a game. Although a team's home and away opponents are known by the end of the previous year's regular season, the exact dates and times for NFL games are not determined until much later because
8774-555: A total of 32 are given. Clubs are required to make their selection within a certain period of time, the exact time depending on which round the pick is made in. If they fail to do so on time, the clubs behind them can begin to select their players in order, but they do not lose the pick outright. This happened in the 2003 draft , when the Minnesota Vikings failed to make their selection on time. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers were able to make their picks before
NBC Sunday Night Football - Misplaced Pages Continue
8988-503: A two-conference system from 1933 to 1966 , where the champions of each conference would meet in the NFL Championship Game . If two teams tied for the conference lead, they would meet in a one-game playoff to determine the conference champion. In 1967 , the NFL expanded from 15 teams to 16 teams. Instead of just evening out the conferences by adding the expansion New Orleans Saints to the seven-member Western Conference,
9202-497: Is also among the most-watched sporting events in the world, with the individual games accounting for many of the most watched television programs in American history and all occupying the top five of Nielsen 's all-time most-watched U.S. television broadcasts by 2015. The NFL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan . The Green Bay Packers hold the most combined NFL championships with thirteen, winning nine titles before
9416-816: Is also available on the Apple TV app , and the Premium service is available as an in-app subscription. On July 20, 2020, Peacock launched an app for PlayStation 4 . On September 21 of that year, Peacock became available on Roku . The company's September 18 agreement for the service narrowly averted a blackout of NBCUniversal's TV Everywhere apps on Roku devices due to a dispute over revenue sharing and advertising inventory assignment. On June 8, 2021, Peacock launched an app for Samsung smart TVs. On June 24, 2021, Peacock launched an app for Amazon Fire TV and Amazon Fire tablets , such as Fire HD . In April 2023, as part of its multi-year partnership with Meta Platforms ,
9630-569: Is an American over-the-top subscription streaming service owned and operated by Peacock TV, LLC, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal Media Group . Named after the NBC logo , the service launched on July 15, 2020. The service primarily features series and film content from NBCUniversal studios and other third-party content providers (such as WWE and Hallmark Channel ), including television series, films, news, and sports programming. Peacock initially debuted in free, "Premium", and "Premium Plus" plans, with
9844-541: Is carried within a branded channel on Peacock, which includes a selection of WWE content on Peacock's free tier. Premium subscribers have access to the full WWE library, including WWE Network original programming, archive content and all premium live events ( pay-per-views ) live and on-demand. Some WWE content on Peacock has been edited to meet NBCUniversal standards and practices , particularly to remove content considered inappropriate under current standards. The standalone WWE Network service for existing U.S. subscribers
10058-567: Is currently hosted by Jac Collinsworth, Dungy, and Harrison. NBC's current NFL contract, which runs from the 2023 season until the 2034 season, includes the rights to the season-opening Thursday night NFL Kickoff Game , another primetime game played on Thanksgiving Night, and at least two playoff games, one in the Super Wild Card round and one in the Divisional Playoffs, along with an additional Wild Card playoff game in
10272-427: Is defined as "six or more regular-season games on a club's active/inactive, reserved/injured or reserve/physically unable to perform lists". Restricted free agents are allowed to negotiate with other clubs besides their former club, but the former club has the right to match any offer. If they choose not to, they are compensated with draft picks. Unrestricted free agents are free to sign with any club, and no compensation
10486-448: Is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there. This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business." As a result, the league office might owe around US$ 10 million in income taxes, but it is no longer required to disclose the salaries of its executive officers. The league has three defined officers:
10700-543: Is elected by an affirmative vote of three-fourths or 10 of the conference members. The commissioner appoints the secretary and treasurer and has broad authority in disputes between clubs, players, coaches, and employees. He is the "principal executive officer " of the NFL and also has authority in hiring league employees, negotiating television contracts, disciplining individuals that own part or all of an NFL team, clubs, or employed individuals of an NFL club if they have violated league by-laws or committed "conduct detrimental to
10914-463: Is owed if they sign with a different club. Clubs are given one franchise tag to offer to any unrestricted free agent. The franchise tag is a one-year deal that pays the player 120% of his previous contract or no less than the average of the five highest-paid players at his position, whichever is greater. There are two types of franchise tags: exclusive tags, which do not allow the player to negotiate with other clubs, and non-exclusive tags, which allow
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#173278291093311128-478: Is required to schedule three preseason games. NFC teams must play at least two of these at home in odd numbered years and AFC teams must play at least two at home in even numbered years. However, the teams involved in the Hall of Fame game, as well as any team that played in an American Bowl game, play four preseason games. Preseason games are exhibition matches and do not count towards regular-season totals. Because
11342-468: Is the first chance a team would have to clinch the series. In 2007 , there was no game on October 28; in 2008 , there was no game on October 26; and, in 2009 , there was no game on November 1. Although no games aired on these nights, Football Night in America still aired as scheduled at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. NBC televised a game on October 31, 2010 , and again on October 23, 2011, opposite Game 4 of
11556-668: The 2017 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros . Both the Steelers and the Lions have a baseball team in their respective home cities ( Pittsburgh 's Pirates and Detroit 's Tigers , the latter plays their home games at nearby Comerica Park in Detroit), but neither of their baseball counterparts did well that season ; as for the NFL franchises of the participating World Series cities,
11770-513: The 2022 season , for the first time since 2009, there was not one occurrence in which both an SNF game and a World Series game occurred on the same day, but the first time in which only the NFL games were played. Originally, the NFL had scheduled the Green Bay Packers – Buffalo Bills game as the competing contest, to be played on October 30; however, with Major League Baseball starting the World Series on October 28, and in part due to
11984-894: The AFC East showdown between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets and the interconference matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tennessee Titans , due to the AFC West (of which the Chiefs are a member) being a weak division for 2011. On December 7, the NFL ended up keeping the Week 15 match-up between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Diego Chargers on December 18, a decision that came
12198-803: The Akron Pros , Canton Bulldogs , Cleveland Indians , and Dayton Triangles at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton, Ohio . This meeting resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC), a group who, according to the Canton Evening Repository , intended to "raise the standard of professional football in every way possible, to eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs and to secure cooperation in
12412-618: The American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest professional level of American football in the world. Each NFL season begins annually with a three-week preseason in August, followed by the 18-week regular season , which runs from early September to early January, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week . Following
12626-639: The American Professional Football Association (APFA) . The league elected Jim Thorpe as its first president, and consisted of 14 teams (the Buffalo All-Americans , Chicago Tigers , Columbus Panhandles and Detroit Heralds joined the league during the year). The Massillon Tigers from Massillon, Ohio was also at the September 17 meeting, but did not field a team in 1920. Only two of these teams,
12840-658: The Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup , was donated to the NFL (then APFA) in 1920 by the Brunswick-Balke Collender Corporation . The trophy, the appearance of which is only known by its description as a "silver loving cup", was intended to be a traveling trophy and not to become permanent until a team had won at least three titles. The league awarded it to the Akron Pros, champions of the inaugural 1920 season; however,
13054-642: The China Bowl contest from Beijing; however, the China Bowl was canceled. The 2008 schedule, released on April 15, continued the 2007 practice of a scheduled game possibly being moved in favor of a more compelling one during Weeks 11 through 16 (November 16 through December 21), but left the slot open on the final Sunday, December 28. The NFL Kickoff Game between the Washington Redskins and defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants that
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#173278291093313268-424: The Colorado Rockies , that had limited success in recent seasons, though they did not contend for the National League West in 2012 ). The game wound up being scheduled opposite the fourth (and final) game of the 2012 World Series . For 2013 , SNF aired the Green Bay Packers – Minnesota Vikings rivalry game at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on October 27, opposite Game 4 of the 2013 World Series . Both
13482-553: The Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on November 1. Both the Packers and the Broncos entered the game undefeated at 6–0. However, the game wound up being scheduled opposite the fifth (and final) game of the 2015 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets that night. Both the Packers and the Broncos have a baseball team in their respective home states (Wisconsin's Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado's Colorado Rockies), but both of those MLB teams performed poorly that season . For 2016, SNF aired
13696-434: The Denver Broncos – Minnesota Vikings game that was originally to air on CBS. This was the first time that the league moved an inter-conference telecast to the home team's Sunday afternoon regional broadcaster. On November 14, the NFL decided to keep the Week 12 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs on November 27 in place after the league considered flexing it out for other matchups, particularly
13910-440: The Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead–Miami Speedway ; then in a game that kicked off at 8:25 (a few minutes later than usual due to ceremonies honoring the 1972 Miami Dolphins , still the only NFL team to complete an undefeated season including playoffs), the Miami Dolphins defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers , 16-10 at Hard Rock Stadium . Both venues are in Miami-Dade County, Florida . The SNF game on September 27, 2020, between
14124-429: The Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints prompted the National Hockey League (NHL) to schedule games 4 and 5 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals on the previous two days back-to-back, as NBC was contractually required to air all potential series-clinchers over-the-air. This was the result of the NHL season being paused for over four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic earlier, causing an atypical conflict between
14338-407: The Houston Texans began play as an expansion team . Other drafts held by the league include an allocation draft in 1950 to allocate players from several teams that played in the dissolved All-America Football Conference and a supplemental draft in 1984 to give NFL teams the rights to players who had been eligible for the main draft but had not been drafted because they had signed contracts with
14552-433: The Internal Revenue Code provides an exemption from federal income taxation for "Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual." In contrast, each individual team, with
14766-404: The Los Angeles Rams (who moved back to Los Angeles from St. Louis in 2016) were in contention for the NFC West through Week 8 of the 2017 season (meanwhile, Los Angeles' other team, the Los Angeles Chargers , who moved from San Diego in 2017, were struggling at that same point of the season) while the Houston Texans , who had reached the playoffs the previous two seasons, also struggled. As for
14980-440: The Los Angeles Rams who came from a 1936 iteration of the American Football League, and the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers , both from the AAFC. By the 1950s, the NFL had an effective monopoly on professional football in the United States; its only competition in North America was the professional Canadian football circuit, which formally became the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1958. With Canadian football being
15194-420: The National League East in 2016 , while the Rangers won the American League West title that season, but they lost in three games to the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS ; on the other hand, the Cleveland Browns and the Chicago Bears , the NFL franchises of the participating World Series cities, were performing at the bottom of its respective divisions in recent years, with the Browns' issues dating back to
15408-824: The Philadelphia Eagles – Dallas Cowboys rivalry game at AT&T Stadium on October 30, opposite to Game 5 of the 2016 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs . Both the Eagles and the Cowboys have a baseball team in their respective home cities ( Philadelphia 's Phillies and Dallas 's Texas Rangers , the latter plays their home games at nearby Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas ). The Phillies did not contend for
15622-670: The Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St. Paul Ideals 48–0 at Douglas Park . On October 3, 1920, the first full week of league play occurred. The following season resulted in the Chicago Staleys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans. On June 24, 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League (NFL). In 1932 , the season ended with
15836-682: The Skycam camera system was used for the first time in a live telecast, at a 1984 preseason NFL game in San Diego between the Chargers and 49ers , and televised by CBS. Commentator John Madden famously used a telestrator during games between the early 1980s to the mid-2000s, boosting the device's popularity. Each April (excluding 2014 when it took place in May), the NFL holds a draft of college players. The draft consists of seven rounds, with each of
16050-816: The Toronto Blue Jays . The latter two cities are interconnected in both sports; the 2020 and 2021 teams played some home games in Buffalo due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Bills once played select home games at Rogers Centre in Toronto . Tennessee doesn't have a neighboring MLB team, while the Kansas City Royals , the neighboring MLB team in Kansas City, had a non-winning record for
16264-535: The United States Football League or Canadian Football League . Like the other major sports leagues in the United States , the NFL maintains protocol for a disaster draft . In the event of a 'near disaster' (less than 15 players killed or disabled) that caused the club to lose a quarterback, they could draft one from a team with at least three quarterbacks. In the event of a 'disaster' (15 or more players killed or disabled) that results in
16478-601: The Washington Nationals . Both the Packers and the Chiefs have a baseball team in their respective home states (Wisconsin's Milwaukee Brewers made the postseason but lost to the eventual World Series Champion Nationals in the NL Wild Card Game, and Missouri's Kansas City Royals, failed to make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season). As for the two games that aired simultaneously on October 27,
16692-486: The lockout before the season and the expansion of the postseason to 12 teams (which includes a best of three wild card series), that day became a travel day. The 2022 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros began on a Friday instead of Tuesday, as in past years. Since Minute Maid Park , the venue at which the series began, has a retractable roof , as expected neither of
16906-493: The 2007 and 2008 practice of scheduling a game every Sunday night during the season (except during the World Series) but declaring the games in Weeks 11 through 16 (November 22 through December 27) subject to change, should a more compelling matchup arise. The pattern of the 2007 and 2008 schedules was continued, as the slot for the final Sunday night of the season – January 3, 2010 – was left vacant. Two games were "flexed" in
17120-505: The 2009 season, as the Minnesota Vikings – Arizona Cardinals game replaced the original December 6 matchup between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins . To fill the vacant game slot for the last week of the season, NBC was given the matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Jets that was originally scheduled for 4:15 p.m. Eastern on CBS, with this game having playoff implications for both teams. For
17334-408: The 2015 season and simulcast Super Bowl XLIX , the channel carrying Spanish-language simulcasts of NFL games and NBC Sports properties. Telemundo would later carry Spanish language broadcasts of select games, beginning in 2021, with an NFL Super Wild Card game. Telemundo also broadcast Super Bowl LVI in 2022. Recently, TeleXitos has been a near simulcast of Universo programming at all hours and as
17548-614: The 2023, 2026 and 2031 seasons. NBC rotates the rights to the Super Bowl with other NFL television rights holders, obtaining the rights in 2026 (for Super Bowl LX ), 2030 (for Super Bowl LXIV ), and 2034 (for Super Bowl LXVIII ), all in Winter Olympic years. Between 2006 and 2014, NBC also had rights to the Pro Bowl, but lost it to ESPN from 2015 onward. Between 2023 and 2028, NBC has the rights to one additional regular-season game to be exclusively aired on Peacock . In 2023, this
17762-424: The 32 clubs getting one pick in each round. The draft order for non-playoff teams is determined by regular-season record; among playoff teams, teams are first ranked by the furthest round of the playoffs they reached, and then are ranked by regular-season record. For example, any team that reached the divisional round will be given a higher pick than any team that reached the conference championships, but will be given
17976-500: The AFC package, and Fox carries afternoon games from the NFC package. These afternoon games are not carried on all affiliates, as multiple games are being played at once; each network affiliate is assigned one game per time slot, according to a complicated set of rules. Since 2011, the league has reserved the right to give Sunday games that, under the contract, would normally air on one network to
18190-600: The Astros defeated the Phillies 4–1 to win the title, their second in six seasons with the other being in the infamous 2017 season . (Ironically this clashed with a Thursday Night Football game between the NFL franchises where the Astros and the Phillies are located). The closest MLB team to the Packers is the Milwaukee Brewers , in a market officially shared with them, while the Bills' closest MLB neighbors are
18404-573: The Bell . It was also announced that library rights to the NBC sitcoms The Office and Parks and Recreation would move exclusively to Peacock in October 2020 and January 2021, respectively. Peacock soft launched for Comcast Xfinity cable subscribers on April 15, 2020, beginning with X1 and Xfinity Flex customers. The service then launched nationally on July 15 of that year. As of August 2021,
18618-544: The Chicago Bears ( 6–1–6 ) and the Portsmouth Spartans ( 6–1–4 ) tied for first in the league standings. At the time, teams were ranked on a single table and the team with the highest winning percentage (not including ties, which were not counted towards the standings) at the end of the season was declared the champion; the only tiebreaker was that in the event of a tie if two teams played twice in
18832-676: The Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals), remain in the NFL. Although the league did not maintain official standings for its 1920 inaugural season and teams played schedules that included non-league opponents, the APFA awarded the Akron Pros the championship by virtue of their 8–0–3 record. The first event occurred on September 26, 1920, when
19046-659: The Fall Classic. This game aired opposite Game 5 of the 2021 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros . While Dallas and Minnesota have MLB teams in their respective home states, both the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins performed poorly that season. The Astros won that game, 9–5, to stay alive in the series, but lost two days later as the Braves won their first title since 1995 . In
19260-458: The Free tier contains a subset of its content. The Free and Premium tiers are advertising-supported, with commercials limited to five minutes per hour. Peacock Premium is included in some services from television service providers, such as Cox , which ended January 15, 2023, and Xfinity. Subscribers to Peacock Premium, whether subscribing directly or receiving service through a provider, can upgrade to
19474-557: The Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls. Unlike the previous trophies, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is issued to each year's champion, who maintains permanent control of it. Lombardi Trophies are made by Tiffany & Co. out of sterling silver and are worth anywhere from US$ 25,000 to US$ 300,000. Additionally, each player on the winning team as well as coaches and personnel are awarded Super Bowl rings to commemorate their victory. The winning team chooses
19688-769: The Hall of Fame Game, generally in the last week of the preseason schedule. In 2021, this was a matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and the Cleveland Browns , and in 2024, it was a matchup between the New England Patriots and the Washington Commanders . The first regular season game to be shown by NBC under this contract, between the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers , aired on September 7, 2006 , followed by
19902-729: The Jets, a win would have put them in the playoffs, while the Bengals had the potential to improve their seeding for the playoffs with a victory. The Jets-Bengals game ended up being the last game played at Giants Stadium (the Jets could have hosted the AFC Championship Game, but the Baltimore Ravens lost in the Divisional Round to the Indianapolis Colts ). The 2010 schedule, released on April 20, placed
20116-643: The Minnesota Twins failed to qualify for the postseason in 2018 . As for the city of New Orleans, they do not have an MLB team. As for the teams that are playing, the Red Sox, put up the best record in MLB, while the city's football team, the New England Patriots , were riding a 5–2 record through 7 games. The Dodgers meanwhile clinched the National League pennant for the second consecutive year, as for
20330-755: The NFC Championship Game against the Saints in overtime, but then lose to the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII. In 2019 , for the fourth time, the NFL scheduled the Green Bay Packers to play on the Sunday Night Football –World Series competition game, this time against the Kansas City Chiefs , in a rematch of Super Bowl I . This game aired opposite Game 5 of the 2019 World Series between the Houston Astros and
20544-705: The NFC receive the George Halas Trophy , named after Chicago Bears founder George Halas , who is also considered one of the co-founders of the NFL. The AFC champions receive the Lamar Hunt Trophy , named after Lamar Hunt , the founder of the Kansas City Chiefs and the principal founder of the American Football League. Players on the winning team also receive a conference championship ring. The NFL recognizes
20758-565: The NFL announced the NFL Source initiative, aimed at increasing the number of minority- and women-owned businesses that work with the league throughout the year. NFL Source will be mandatory for teams that host major events, such as the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft, and their organizing committees, but will be optional for other contracts at the team level. The NFL will partner with the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc to help local businesses across
20972-402: The NFL by January 15 renouncing their remaining college eligibility. Clubs can trade away picks for future draft picks, but cannot trade the rights to players they have selected in previous drafts. Aside from the seven picks each club gets, compensatory draft picks are given to teams that have lost more compensatory free agents than they have gained. These are spread out from rounds 3 to 7, and
21186-525: The NFL cannot hold games on those days until the Friday before the third Saturday in December. While Saturday games late in the season are common, the league rarely holds Friday games, the most recent one being on Christmas Day in 2020. NFL games are rarely scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, and those days have only been used three times since 1948: in 2010, when a Sunday game was rescheduled to Tuesday due to
21400-455: The NFL could ultimately be liable for $ 14.39 billion. The league said it would ask the judge to set the verdict aside then appeal the verdict if needed. From 1920 to 1934, the NFL did not have a set number of games for teams to play, instead setting a minimum. The league mandated a twelve-game regular season for each team beginning in 1935 , later shortening this to eleven games in 1937 and ten games in 1943 , mainly due to World War II. After
21614-513: The NFL occupied the top three rates for a 30-second advertisement: $ 882,079 for Sunday Night Football , $ 562,524 for Monday Night Football , and $ 440,523 for Thursday Night Football . The league, in recent years, has expanded their televised broadcasts to over-the-top streaming services. Since 2022, Amazon holds the exclusive rights to broadcast the Thursday Night Football package. Prior to then, Amazon streamed games from
21828-651: The NFL realigned the conferences and split each into two four-team divisions. The four division champions would meet in the NFL playoffs , a two-round playoff. The NFL also operated the Playoff Bowl (officially the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl) from 1960 to 1969. Effectively, a third-place game , pitting the two conference runners-up against each other, the league considers Playoff Bowls to have been exhibitions rather than playoff games. The league discontinued
22042-482: The NFL season concludes. In the 2006 season, in addition to the World Series off-week, there was no game scheduled for Christmas Eve night; NBC broadcast that week's game ( Eagles at Cowboys ) on Christmas afternoon instead. A half-hour version of Football Night in America aired before the Christmas game and the two "Wild Card Saturday" games. During the 2006 season, no game was initially scheduled for NBC in
22256-471: The NFL season. For the first time since NBC gained the rights to SNF , a tentative full-season schedule was unveiled, including games in the last seven weeks of the season. Those games could be replaced under flexible scheduling if the need arose. The same rules under which CBS and Fox protect games for their own packages still apply. Three of the games in the last seven weeks of the season were eventually replaced with more compelling matches. This resulted in
22470-715: The NFL's preseason each August. Usually the game is aired on the Sunday after the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony the night before. In 2017, the game was moved to the Thursday before the Induction Ceremony, which made the game the official start of Hall of Fame Weekend. Due to NBC's broadcast commitments to the Summer Olympics , in every year the games are held, the Hall of Fame Game is moved to another network - Fox in 2021 and ESPN/ ABC in 2024. In Summer Olympics years, NBC hosts another preseason game in lieu of
22684-405: The National Football League for the 1922 season . After initially determining champions through end-of-season standings, a playoff system was implemented in 1933 that culminated with the NFL Championship Game until 1966. Following an agreement to merge the NFL with the rival American Football League (AFL), the Super Bowl was first held in 1967 to determine a champion between the best teams from
22898-489: The Packers and Vikings have a baseball team in their respective home states ( Wisconsin 's Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota 's Twins ), but the two Major League Baseball teams struggled in 2013 . The 2014 game, between the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, was scheduled against Game 5 of the 2014 World Series , which under the seven-game format would be played only if necessary (a split in
23112-621: The Packers beat the Chiefs, 31–24, while in Game 5 of the World Series (of which the series itself was tied at 2–2), the Astros beat the Nationals, 7–1 heading into Game 6 of the World Series on October 29. In 2020 , for the first time, the NFL flexed a game that was scheduled against the Fall Classic. The league flexed the Seattle Seahawks – Arizona Cardinals game to the Sunday Night Football –World Series competition game, in place of
23326-485: The Playoff Bowl in 1970 due to its perception as a game for losers. Following the addition of the former AFL teams into the NFL in 1970 , the NFL split into two conferences with three divisions each. The expanded league, now with twenty-six teams, would also feature an expanded eight-team playoff, the participants being the three division champions from each conference as well as one 'wild card' team (the team with
23540-664: The Sunday night time slot. The originally scheduled New York Giants- Dallas Cowboys game on December 14 was followed by a flexed December 21 home game for the Giants against the Carolina Panthers ; the Giants-Panthers game was flexed because it carried serious playoff implications, as the winner clinches the NFC 's top seed and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. This was the second of three flexed games, with
23754-531: The Super Bowl era and four Super Bowls afterwards. Since the creation of the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are tied for the most Super Bowl victories at six each. The reigning league champions are the Kansas City Chiefs , who defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 25–22 in Super Bowl LVIII . On August 20, 1920, a meeting was held by representatives of
23968-508: The Top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world; and 16 of the NFL's owners are listed on the Forbes 400 , the most of any sports league or organization. At the corporate level, the National Football League considers itself a trade association made up of and financed by its 32 member teams. Up until 2015, the league was an unincorporated nonprofit 501(c)(6) association. Section 501(c)(6) of
24182-516: The United States and 69% of all potential viewers in the United States. NFL regular season games accounted for 31 out of the top 32 most-watched programs in the fall season and an NFL game ranked as the most-watched television show in all 17 weeks of the regular season. At the local level, NFL games were the highest-ranked shows in NFL markets 92% of the time. Super Bowls account for the 22 most-watched programs (based on total audience) in US history, including
24396-476: The Vikings were able to use theirs. Selected players are only allowed to negotiate contracts with the team that picked them, but if they choose not to sign they become eligible for the next year's draft. Under the current collective bargaining contract, all contracts to drafted players must be four-year deals with a club option for a fifth. Contracts themselves are limited to a certain amount of money, depending on
24610-456: The World Series (of which the series itself was tied at 2–2), the Dodgers beat the Rays, 4–2. Two days later, the Dodgers won again by a score of 3–1, giving the franchise its first championship since 1988 . For the 2021 season , the NFL scheduled the Dallas Cowboys – Minnesota Vikings game as the Sunday Night Football World Series competition game. This was the first time since 2016 and 2018 respectively that both teams played on SNF against
24824-441: The World Series on Fox in both cases. Both games featured the New Orleans Saints at home, first in 2010 against the Pittsburgh Steelers , then in 2011 against the Indianapolis Colts . New Orleans and Indianapolis do not have a Major League Baseball team, and the Pittsburgh Pirates had poor seasonal performances in those recent years, at the time having not recorded a winning record since 1992 . However Indianapolis has
25038-406: The World Series. That game could be moved if necessary, pending agreements with Fox Sports (NBC and Fox are both NFL broadcasters, with unwritten gentlemen's agreements in play). On October 23, 2022, for the first time, NBC showed a NASCAR Cup Series race and an SNF game from the same metropolitan area on the same day. In a race that started at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time , Kyle Larson won
25252-710: The Year Award , which recognizes a player's off-field work in addition to his on-field performance. The NFL Coach of the Year award is the highest coaching award. The NFL also gives out weekly awards such as the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week and the Pepsi MAX NFL Rookie of the Week awards. In the United States, the National Football League is televised on eight networks across seven media partners: ESPN / ABC , CBS , Fox , NBC , Prime Video , Netflix , and NFL Network . The league offers its media rights in packages of games to prospective media partners. The packages can vary depending on conference, broadcast time slot, or both. CBS televises afternoon games from
25466-415: The ad-free Premium Plus tier for an additional monthly cost. In January 2023, NBCUniversal discontinued the Free tier for new users: only subscription-based plans are available, with the Free plan only available to existing users, and those whose Premium subscription has lapsed. On May 6, 2020, a distribution deal with Apple made Peacock available on iOS devices and Apple TV on-launch. Peacock content
25680-480: The affected weeks – instead, the schedule slot for the NBC game was left vacant, with one Sunday afternoon game being moved to the primetime slot (the schedule for the affected weeks simply read "one of these games will move to 8:15 Eastern"). CBS and Fox could each protect four of its games during Weeks 10 through 15 and also each protect one of its games for Week 17; however, these two networks had to decide which games to protect in early October 2006, after Week 4 of
25894-406: The beginning of his tenure to 17 million by the end of his tenure, and 400 million global viewers watched 1989's Super Bowl XXIII . The NFL established NFL Properties in 1963. The league's licensing wing, NFL Properties, earns the league billions of dollars annually; Rozelle's tenure also marked the creation of NFL Charities and a national partnership with United Way . Paul Tagliabue
26108-410: The best overall record, with tiebreakers in the event of two or more teams having the same record). These teams are seeded according to overall record and tiebreakers, with the division champions always ranking higher than the wild card teams. The top team (seeded one) from each conference are awarded a bye week, while the remaining six teams (seeded 2–7) from each conference compete in the first round of
26322-492: The best win percentage that did not win its division) from each conference. In 1978, the league added a second wild card team from each conference, bringing the total number of playoff teams to ten, and a further two wild card teams were added in 1990 to bring the total to twelve. When the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002 , the league realigned, changing the division structure from three divisions in each conference to four divisions in each conference. As each division champion gets
26536-417: The broadcasts on ESPN or ABC. ESPN also holds exclusive rights to stream one Sunday morning international game on ESPN+. Beginning in 2024, Netflix holds the global streaming rights for at least one Christmas Day game every season as part of a three-year deal. The Super Bowl television rights are rotated on a four-year basis between CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN/ABC. The NFL's most recent contract negotiation for
26750-407: The championship. Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL, beginning in 1933 , to split into two divisions with a championship game to be played between the division champions. The 1934 season also marked the first of twelve seasons in which African Americans were absent from the league . The de facto ban was rescinded in 1946 , following public pressure and coinciding with
26964-429: The city's two teams, the Los Angeles Rams were at the time, the last undefeated team in the NFL at 7–0, while the Los Angeles Chargers started 5–2 and were half a game back with the arch-rival Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West race (the Chiefs won the AFC West title that season before losing to the eventual Super Bowl LIII champion Patriots in the AFC Championship Game). The Rams would go on to controversially win
27178-414: The commissioner, secretary, and treasurer. Each conference has one defined officer, the president, which is essentially an honorary position with few powers and mostly ceremonial duties, including awarding the conference championship trophy. The commissioner is elected by the affirmative vote of two-thirds or eighteen (whichever is greater) of the members of the league, while the president of each conference
27392-462: The company that makes the rings; each ring design varies, with the NFL mandating certain ring specifications (which have a degree of room for deviation), in addition to requiring the Super Bowl logo be on at least one side of the ring. The losing team are also awarded rings, which must be no more than half as valuable as the winners' rings, but those are almost never worn. The conference champions receive trophies for their achievement. The champions of
27606-433: The conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference, including four division winners and three wild card teams, advance to the playoffs , a single-elimination tournament , which culminates in the Super Bowl , played in early February between the winners of the AFC and NFC championship games. The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association ( APFA ) before renaming itself
27820-463: The country obtain the certifications necessary to do business with the league in furtherance of its efforts to increase partnerships with certified and underrepresented businesses that are 51% owned and operated or led by a veteran, woman, minority, person with disabilities or LGBTQ+. In 2015, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers, alleging that the NFL, its member teams, its broadcast partners, and DirecTV engaged in
28034-448: The current league champion, the league issued a smaller replica trophy to each champion, who would maintain permanent control over it. The current location of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, long thought to be lost, is believed to be possessed by the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame . The current trophy of the NFL is the Vince Lombardi Trophy . The Super Bowl trophy was officially renamed in 1970 after Vince Lombardi , who as head coach led
28248-438: The decision out of concern that the "pre-airs" of both late-night talk shows on Peacock would cannibalize viewership for the shows on local NBC stations, and the plans never came to fruition. On July 6, 2021, Universal announced that it would not renew its pay-one output deal with HBO in favor of bringing its films to Peacock during the pay-one window beginning in 2022. All films will exclusively be available on Peacock during
28462-603: The division NBCUniversal Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises . On September 17, 2019, it was announced that the service would be named "Peacock", an allusion to the NBC logo . The service announced further details on its initial slate of original programming, including sci-fi series Brave New World (moved from USA Network 's slate), limited series Angelyne , crime drama Dr. Death , comedy Rutherford Falls , teen drama One of Us Is Lying , talk show The Amber Ruffin Show , and reboots and continuations of Battlestar Galactica , Punky Brewster , and Saved by
28676-483: The event, to produce an U.S. music competition series based on the Eurovision format. For 2022, NBC's lead figure skating analyst, Johnny Weir , was added as a commentator for its Eurovision broadcasts. The streaming rights for the contest were renewed for 2023 . On June 10, 2021, Peacock added content from anime streaming service RetroCrush . On October 31, 2022, NBCUniversal announced an SVOD agreement with Hallmark Media , under which Peacock Premium would add
28890-407: The exact draft pick the player was selected with. Players who were draft eligible but not picked in the draft are free to sign with any club. The NFL operates several other drafts in addition to the NFL draft. The league holds a supplemental draft annually. Clubs submit emails to the league stating the player they wish to select and the round they will do so, and the team with the highest bid wins
29104-518: The exception of the non-profit Green Bay Packers , is subject to tax because they make a profit. In 2015, the NFL gave up its tax-exempt status following public criticism; in a letter to the club owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell labeled it a "distraction", saying "the effects of the tax-exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years… Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means
29318-452: The fifth time, the NFL scheduled the New Orleans Saints to play on the Sunday Night World Series competition game, this time, against the Minnesota Vikings , in a rematch of the Minneapolis Miracle game. However this game wound up being scheduled opposite the fifth (and final) game of the 2018 World Series , between the Los Angeles Dodgers season and the Boston Red Sox that night. The city of Minneapolis does have an MLB team, however,
29532-437: The first Sunday-night game – between the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants – on September 10, 2006. The actual first game of the run – the 2006 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Oakland Raiders and Philadelphia Eagles – was televised on August 6, 2006. NBC Sunday Night Football is the beneficiary of the league's new flexible-scheduling system . Since the NFL now considers SNF to be its featured game of
29746-408: The first and last four months of the 18-month pay-one window (with Universal licensing its live-action films to Amazon Prime Video and its animated films from Illumination and DreamWorks Animation to Netflix in between those two exclusivity windows). The pay-one window for Universal films was initially brought forward to four months after a film's initial theatrical release with this move, but it
29960-436: The first round, as the Warriors, the Western Conference champions from the previous five seasons, and the Timberwolves both had limited success during the 2019-20 season. The Seahawks used to have an NBA team in their market ( Seattle SuperSonics ), but they relocated to Oklahoma City to become the Oklahoma City Thunder . Starting in the 2025-26 NBA season, NBC Sports intends to broadcast Sunday Night Basketball on NBC after
30174-443: The first two games between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals assured the series would need at least five games to determine a champion). Major League Baseball moved the start of the series to a Tuesday instead of Wednesday so it could avoid competing with the NFL on Thursday and Monday nights in addition to Sunday night. In 2015 , the NFL once again scheduled the Green Bay Packers to play on SNF , this time against
30388-418: The first two games were postponed. However, Game 3 (the first game after the series shifted to Philadelphia) was postponed on October 31; at that time, MLB announced that all remaining games would be played one day later than scheduled. This created a possible conflict between Game 7 and the November 6 contest between the Tennessee Titans and the Kansas City Chiefs . But this was averted when, on November 3,
30602-402: The first-ever television sports series of any kind to finish a television season as the most-watched show. The 2012 schedule, released on April 17, once again placed a Sunday night game ( New Orleans Saints at Denver Broncos ) against a World Series game. This was the third straight year a World Series game competed against a Sunday night game. During the halftime of that game, NBC News aired
30816-406: The formation of schedules". A second meeting was held on September 17, 1920, with representatives from teams within four states: Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton from Ohio; the Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers from Indiana; the Rochester Jeffersons from New York; and the Rock Island Independents , Decatur Staleys , and Racine (Chicago) Cardinals from Illinois. The league was renamed to
31030-758: The free version offering a limited selection of content, and Premium Plus offering ad-free video on-demand content and streaming of NBC affiliates; since January 2023, the free tier is no longer available as an option to new customers unless their subscription lapses. In December 2022, the service reached 20 million paid subscribers. In March 2023, Peacock reached 22 million paid subscribers. As of October 2023, Peacock reached 30 million paid subscribers. On January 14, 2019, NBCUniversal announced plans to launch an over-the-top streaming service in 2020, which would feature original and library content, and be available in free advertising-supported and paid ad-free versions. The service would be led by chairman Bonnie Hammer , under
31244-424: The game on December 28, while Faith Hill's introduction was not played due to time constraints before kickoff. For the Week 17 matchup, NBC featured the 7–8 St. Louis Rams playing the 6–9 Seattle Seahawks in a win-and-in game, where the winner of the game would qualify for the playoffs as the NFC West champion while the loser would be eliminated. The Seahawks defeated the Rams by a score of 16–6, thus advancing to
31458-459: The game site. Maria Taylor , Chris Simms , Jason Garrett , Devin McCourty , Mike Florio , and Matthew Berry broadcast from the studio while Jac Collinsworth , Tony Dungy , and Rodney Harrison report from the game. Tirico, Collinsworth, and Stark will also appear. In 2021, a post-game show began airing on NBC's Peacock streaming service under the name Peacock Sunday Night Football Final . Originally hosted by Kathryn Tappen and Simms, it
31672-425: The game was moved to the week before. Because of this, players from the teams participating in the Super Bowl are exempt from participating in the game. The Pro Bowl is not considered as competitive as a regular-season game because the biggest concern of teams is to avoid injuries to the players. The National Football League has used three different trophies to honor its champion over its existence. The first trophy,
31886-407: The games on Telemundo . As with the NFL's other television partners, NBC provides Spanish-language audio feed of the game broadcasts via second audio program (SAP), formerly noted as being "provided by Telemundo" before the rebranding of that entity's sports division to Telemundo Deportes . With the former mun2's relaunch on February 1, 2015, Universo began to carry the full season with the start of
32100-412: The group, nearly 50 more potential schedules were developed to try to ensure that the chosen schedule would be the best possible one. Following the conclusion of the regular season, the NFL Playoffs, a 14-team single-elimination tournament, is then held. Seven teams are selected from each conference: the winners of each of the four divisions as well as three wild card teams (the three remaining teams with
32314-431: The higher remaining seed hosting the lower remaining seed. The AFC and NFC champions then compete in the Super Bowl to determine the league champion. The only other postseason event hosted by the NFL is the Pro Bowl , the league's all-star game . Since 2009, the Pro Bowl has been held the week before the Super Bowl ; in previous years, the game was held the week following the Super Bowl, but in an effort to boost ratings,
32528-406: The league has to account for, among other things, the Major League Baseball postseason and local events that could pose a scheduling conflict with NFL games. During the 2010 season, over 500,000 potential schedules were created by computers, 5,000 of which were considered "playable schedules" and were reviewed by the NFL's scheduling team. After arriving at what they felt was the best schedule out of
32742-449: The linear Reelz channel would be blacked out on Peacock when it carries MLW Underground Wrestling . On April 13, 2023, Peacock added films from Magnolia Pictures . On January 25, 2021, NBCUniversal, which already televised WWE 's professional wrestling weekly programs Raw and NXT on the USA Network , acquired the exclusive U.S. distribution rights to the WWE Network streaming service beginning March 18, 2021. WWE content
32956-479: The local news channels. In June 2020, Canadian broadcaster Corus Entertainment acquired exclusive English Canadian broadcast rights to Peacock Original programming. In October 2021, Quebecor Content acquired exclusive French Canadian rights to Peacock Original programming for its streaming service, Club Illico . In December 2021, OSN acquired Peacock's original programming with the Middle Eastern streaming service, OSN+ . In August 2020, NBCUniversal signed
33170-512: The media rights deal was announced on March 18, 2021, to take effect beginning in the 2023 season. The deal renewed previous rights agreements made by the NFL and each of its network partners to air their respective game packages, while awarding Amazon the Thursday Night Football package. ESPN/ABC is set to return to the Super Bowl broadcast rotation and will broadcast the Super Bowl on U.S. television in 2027, 21 years after airing its last Super Bowl, Super Bowl XL . Digital and streaming distribution
33384-436: The network the earlier chance to capitalize on Tebow's marketability. For the second consecutive season, and third overall, the last Sunday night game that was flexed in featured a contest in which the winner became the division champions and earned a home game in the playoffs while the loser was eliminated. This particular matchup was for the NFC East between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium ,
33598-464: The originally scheduled Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Las Vegas Raiders game which was flexed out due to the Raiders having a COVID-19 outbreak. This game aired opposite Game 5 of the 2020 World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers . Las Vegas does not have an MLB team, while Arizona, Seattle, and Tampa Bay all have teams. As for those two games the Cardinals came from behind to beat Seattle 37–34 in overtime, while in Game 5 of
33812-462: The other network (known as "flexible scheduling"). The only way to legally watch a regionally televised game not being carried on the local network affiliates is to purchase NFL Sunday Ticket, the league's out-of-market sports package , which is available through YouTube TV starting with the 2023 season. The league also provides NFL RedZone , an omnibus telecast that cuts to the most relevant plays in each game, live as they happen. In addition to
34026-495: The other three teams in the division, while one game is held against all the members of a division from the NFC and a division from the AFC as determined by a rotating cycle (three years for the conference the team is in, and four years in the conference they are not in). Two of the other games are intraconference games, determined by the standings of the previous year – for example, if a team finishes first in its division, it will play two other first-place teams in its conference, while
34240-430: The platform serving as its U.S. launch partner for an exclusivity period. On May 18, 2021, NBCUniversal announced that it had acquired the U.S. streaming rights to the Eurovision Song Contest for Peacock under a two-year deal, beginning with the 2021 edition (whose first semifinal was held later that day). The agreement came shortly after NBC reached an agreement with the European Broadcasting Union , which organizes
34454-581: The player to negotiate with other clubs but gives his former club the right to match any offer and two first-round draft picks if they decline to match it. Peacock (streaming service) Through Sky and Now : Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, and United Kingdom Through SkyShowtime : Andorra, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nordics, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain Through Universal+: Latin America Peacock
34668-405: The playoff game, officially a regular-season game that would count towards the regular season standings, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but a combination of heavy snow and extreme cold forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium , which did not have a regulation-size football field. Playing with altered rules to accommodate the smaller playing field, the Bears won the game 9–0 and thus won
34882-411: The playoffs while the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl a few months later in February. In the same 2020 NFL season, two games of the NBA Finals , broadcast on ABC , went up against SNF games: Philadelphia Eagles versus San Francisco 49ers on October 4 (Game 3) and Minnesota Vikings versus Seattle Seahawks on October 11 (Game 6, which was also the clinching win for the Los Angeles Lakers ). This
35096-455: The playoffs whilst the Rams were eliminated from playoff contention. The 2011 schedule, released on April 19, once again placed a Sunday night game ( Indianapolis Colts at New Orleans Saints on October 23, the fourth straight time these teams played each other on national television) opposite a World Series game. Sunday night games between November 13 and December 18 (inclusive) were "flex games", which could have reverted to Sunday afternoon if
35310-414: The playoffs, the Wild Card round, with the 2-seed competing against the 7-seed, the 3-seed competing against the 6-seed and the 4-seed competing against the 5-seed. The winners of the Wild Card round advance to the Divisional Round, which matches the lower seeded team against the 1-seed and the two remaining teams against each other. The winners of those games then compete in the Conference Championships, with
35524-414: The pre-merger NFL teams, and the American Football Conference (AFC), consisting of all of the AFL teams as well as three pre-merger NFL teams. Today, the NFL is the most popular sports league in North America – with much of the league's growth and popularity attributable to former Commissioner Pete Rozelle , who led the league from 1960 to 1989. Overall annual attendance increased from 3 million at
35738-435: The preseason does not count towards standings, teams generally do not focus on winning games; instead, they are used by coaches to evaluate their teams and by players to show their performance, both to their current team and to other teams if they get cut. The quality of preseason games has been criticized by some fans, who dislike having to pay full price for exhibition games, as well as by some players and coaches, who dislike
35952-402: The previous commissioner, retired. The NFL season format consists of a three-week preseason , an 18-week regular season (each team plays 17 games), and a 14-team single-elimination playoff culminating in the Super Bowl, the league's championship game. The NFL preseason begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game , played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton . Each NFL team
36166-437: The proposed service was scrapped in August 2020. In October 2020, during the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election , NBC News launched a new channel on Peacock called "The Choice", which airs original news and opinion programs. At launch, these included The Majority Report with Sam Seder , The Mehdi Hasan Show, and Zerlina . In July 2021, the channel was rebranded as "The Choice by MSNBC ". In 2022, The Choice
36380-420: The regional games, the league also has packages of telecasts, mostly in prime time, that are carried nationwide. NBC broadcasts the primetime Sunday Night Football package, which includes the Thursday NFL Kickoff game that starts the regular season and a primetime Thanksgiving Day game . ESPN is the main broadcaster of the Monday Night Football package with ABC airing select games either exclusively or as
36594-472: The removal of a similar ban in Major League Baseball . The NFL was always the largest professional football league in the United States; it nevertheless faced numerous rival professional leagues through the 1930s and 1940s. Rival leagues included at least three separate American Football Leagues and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), on top of various regional leagues of varying caliber. Three NFL teams trace their histories to these rival leagues;
36808-456: The rest of the state the club operates in, as well as the area the team operates its training camp in for the duration of the camp). Each NFL member has the exclusive right to host professional football games inside its Home Territory and the exclusive right to advertise, promote, and host events in its Home Marketing Area. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, mostly relating to teams with close proximity to each other: teams that operate in
37022-429: The rights to air one during 2023-24 season in addition to the 2 Wild Card games NBC already had under the contract, which was a match up between the Chiefs and the Dolphins. From 2024 onwards, the exclusive streaming playoff game will be aired by Amazon Prime. All NBC NFL games on television are streamed on Telemundo Deportes in Spanish. NBC is the current home of the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game , which begins
37236-420: The rights to that player. The exact order is determined by a lottery held before the draft, and a successful bid for a player will result in the team forfeiting the rights to its pick in the equivalent round of the next NFL draft. Players are only eligible for the supplemental draft after being granted a petition for special eligibility. The league holds expansion drafts , the most recent happening in 2002 when
37450-443: The risk of injury the games have, while others have felt the preseason is a necessary part of the NFL season. Currently, the 14 opponents each team faces over the 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula: The league runs an 18-week, 272-game regular season. Since 2021, the season has begun the week after Labor Day (the first Monday in September) and concluded the week after New Year. The opening game of
37664-414: The same city (e.g. New York City and Los Angeles) or the same state (e.g. California , Florida , and Texas ) share the rights to the city's Home Territory and the state's Home Marketing Area, respectively. According to Forbes , the Dallas Cowboys , at approximately US$ 8 billion, are the most valuable NFL franchise and the most valuable sports team in the world. 26 of the 32 NFL teams rank among
37878-520: The same package as part of a tri-cast model that saw games aired on broadcast television (initially through CBS and NBC, then later with Fox), cable television (through NFL Network), and digital streaming (through Prime Video). Amazon has also streamed games for free on Twitch since 2018. CBS streams its AFC package games on Paramount+ as a simulcast with its CBS broadcasts. NBC streams Sunday Night Football and select exclusive games on Peacock . ESPN streams its games on ESPN+ in simulcast with
38092-409: The same positions they held during the latter portion of the ABC era of Monday Night Football . Madden retired prior to the 2009 season , and was succeeded in that role by Collinsworth. Tirico succeeded Michaels following Super Bowl LVI in February 2022. Since 2014, sister cable channel Universo has carried Spanish-language simulcasts of select games, after years of aborted attempts to simulcast
38306-466: The same time, ESPN began broadcasting Monday Night Football when it was dropped from sister network ABC . Previously, NBC had aired American Football League (AFL), and later American Football Conference (AFC), games from 1965 until 1997 , when CBS took over those rights. During the 2011–12 season , Sunday Night Football became the first sports program to hold the position as Nielsen 's most-watched program on U.S. network television during
38520-537: The same year to coincide with the FIFA World Cup . In May 2022, Universal Pictures announced that it would shift three of its films to Peacock in 2023: Shooting Stars , a biographical feature about LeBron James based on his memoir; Praise This , about a youth choir music competition; and a remake of John Woo 's 1989 crime drama The Killer . In August 2022, NBC announced that its long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives would move exclusively to Peacock Premium beginning September 12 of that year, after
38734-441: The schedule will give half the teams nine games as the home team, while half the teams have only eight home games. To minimize the perceived benefit on competition of having more home games, the extra home game will be rotated between the two conferences each year. This is because playoff berths are allocated at the conference level, so all teams within the conference will have played the same number of home games. The NFL operated in
38948-549: The season is normally a home game on a Thursday for the league's defending champion. Most NFL games are played on Sundays, with a Monday night game typically held at least once a week and Thursday night games occurring on most weeks as well. NFL games are not normally played on Fridays or Saturdays until late in the regular season, as federal law prohibits professional football leagues from competing with college or high school football. Because high school and college teams typically play games on Friday and Saturday, respectively,
39162-410: The service had reached at least 54 million signups. In April 2022, the service reached 28 million monthly active accounts and 13 million paid subscribers, an increase of 40% from the previous quarter. It also reported a 25% increase in engagement year-over-year. In September 2022, the service had 30 million monthly active accounts and 15 million paid subscribers, a 70% increase in paid subscribers since
39376-456: The service reporting its second-highest usage behind the exclusive NFL broadcast. In August 2024, Peacock similarly added 2.8 million subscribers during the first week of the 2024 Summer Olympics . Ahead of the Games, a Comcast filing stated that Peacock had 33 million paid subscribers. Peacock has three tiers of service: Free, Premium, and Premium Plus. The Premium tiers are subscription-based and include Peacock's full library of content, while
39590-578: The service. Many of the standalone subscription services offered under the NBC Sports Gold banner were merged into Peacock Premium shortly after its launch, including Premier League Pass, IndyCar Pass, Figure Skating Pass, Rugby Pass, Snow Pass, motocross and speed skating. In August 2020, Peacock launched NBC Sports on Peacock , a content hub featuring sports talk shows and radio simulcasts such as PFT Live with Mike Florio , The Dan Patrick Show and The Rich Eisen Show. In September 2020, NBC Sports on Peacock added Brother From Another,
39804-426: The seventh season in a row in 2022, covering every season since its last World Series title in 2015 . For 2023, Major League Baseball announced that it would not schedule a World Series game against SNF for the second straight season, barring any game postponements due to inclement weather, which did not occur. For 2024, Major League Baseball announced that it plans to not schedule a World Series game against SNF for
40018-430: The situation – twice – of having a team playing on consecutive Sunday nights. New England had consecutive Sunday nighters: the November 18 New England at Buffalo game was moved to prime time and was followed on November 25 by the already-scheduled Philadelphia at New England game. Likewise, the Washington Redskins played a scheduled game at the New York Giants on December 16, and their December 23 game in Minnesota
40232-424: The sport safer, mainly through fining or suspending players who break rules. These actions are among many the NFL is taking to reduce concussions and improve player safety. Prior to 2021, the NFL had utilized race-based adjustments of dementia claims in the $ 1 billion settlement of concussion claims, which had been criticized by critics before the NFL decided to end what was called "race-norming". On May 21, 2024,
40446-475: The sports. The Packers and Saints do not have NHL teams in their market (the Packers' second primary market, Milwaukee, hosts the Nashville Predators ' American Hockey League affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals , which suspended play for the 2020-21 season that was being planned for the AHL), while both Stanley Cup Final markets ( Dallas Stars ) and ( Tampa Bay Lightning ) have NFL teams in their market ( Dallas Cowboys ) and ( Tampa Bay Buccaneers ). The Cowboys missed
40660-535: The start of 2022. As of December 2022, the service had reached 20 million paid subscribers, with its coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Spanish having been credited for an increase in the fourth quarter of 2022. In January 2024, Peacock added 3 million new subscribers due to its exclusive National Football League Wild Card broadcast, and achieved the most-streamed event in U.S. history, with an average of 23 million viewers. In April 2024, WrestleMania XL became Peacock's most-streamed entertainment event, with
40874-453: The streaming local news channels on January 20, with stations in Chicago ( WMAQ-TV , as NBC Chicago News ), Miami ( WTVJ , as NBC Miami News ), Philadelphia ( WCAU , as NBC Philadelphia News ) and Boston ( NBC 10 Boston / NECN , as NBC Boston News ) as launch cities, followed by New York City ( WNBC , as NBC New York News ) and Los Angeles ( KNBC , as NBC Los Angeles News ) on March 17, 2022. NBCLX launched in 2022 shortly after
41088-416: The team's return to the league in 1999 . As for the two games that aired simultaneously on October 30, the Cubs beat the Indians, 3–2, to force a Game 6 of the World Series on November 1, while the Cowboys beat the Eagles, 29–23, in overtime. In 2017, the NFL once again scheduled the Pittsburgh Steelers to play on SNF , this time against the Detroit Lions on October 29. This game aired opposite Game 5 of
41302-450: The third straight season, barring any game postponements due to inclement weather. Game 1 of the World Series is currently scheduled for October 25, however, if both League Championship Series matchups are over by October 19, then the Fall Classic would instead start on October 22, therefore it is possible that the October 27th edition of SNF could go up against a possible Game 5, marking the first time since 2021 that SNF went head-to-head with
41516-400: The trophy was discontinued and its current whereabouts are unknown. A second trophy, the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy , was issued by the NFL from 1934 to 1967. The trophy's namesake, Ed Thorp, was a referee in the league and a friend to many early league owners; upon his death in 1934, the league created the trophy to honor him. In addition to the main trophy, which would be in the possession of
41730-404: The two games that aired simultaneously on October 29, the Steelers beat the Lions, 20–15, while in Game 5 of the World Series, the Astros beat the Dodgers, 13–12, in 10 innings, however, the win was brought under heavy scrutiny after it was discovered the Astros used whistles to tip off hitters of what pitch was coming during the game, as well as using trash cans during the season. In 2018 , for
41944-426: The two leagues and has remained as the final game of each NFL season since the merger was completed in 1970. The NFL is the wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue and the sports league with the most valuable teams. The NFL also has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. The Super Bowl
42158-406: The war ended, the number of games returned to eleven games in 1946 , and later back to twelve in 1947. The NFL went to a 14-game schedule in 1961 , which it retained until switching to a 16-game schedule in 1978 . In March 2021, the NFL officially adopted a 17-game schedule after gaining the agreement of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). Having an odd number of games in
42372-528: The week, for the final seven weeks of the season (seven of the final eight weeks during the 2006, 2011 , 2016 , 2017 , 2022 , and 2023 seasons because of Christmas weekend), the NFL has the flexibility in selecting games that are more intriguing and typically have playoff implications to air on Sunday night. In its first four seasons of Sunday night coverage, NBC took one week off in late October or early November, so as not to conflict with Fox 's coverage of baseball's World Series . In 2006, NBC did not air
42586-430: The welfare of the League or professional football". The commissioner can, in the event of misconduct by a party associated with the league, suspend individuals, hand down a fine of up to US$ 500,000, cancel contracts with the league, and award or strip teams of draft picks. In extreme cases, the commissioner can offer recommendations to the NFL's executive committee, up to and including the "cancellation or forfeiture" of
42800-450: The year, beating American Idol , which held that honor for eight consecutive seasons beginning in 2004; Sunday Night Football repeated this feat three years running, beginning with the 2013–14 season . Upon NBC's assumption of the Sunday prime time game rights, Al Michaels , John Madden , Fred Gaudelli, and Drew Esocoff, who served as the respective play-by-play announcer, color commentator, lead producer, and director, joined SNF in
43014-460: Was a matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Chargers and the fourth quarter was presented commercial-free. In 2024, Peacock aired the Week 1 game between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles on the Friday night following the Kickoff Game - in a matchup that was the first ever NFL fixture in Brazil. The NFL's media contract provides the rights for one Wild Card playoff game to be exclusively streamed and Peacock obtained
43228-424: Was added for Premium Plus subscribers. This function was available at launch in 210 markets. Lionsgate licenses library content to Peacock which Comcast negotiated during renewal of its carriage of Starz . In turn, NBCUniversal would license content to StarzPlay in the United States and internationally. On January 16, 2020, Peacock acquired the streaming rights to the Warner Bros. Television series Two and
43442-718: Was curtailed in Sky territories in January 2023. In December 2023, it was announced that Peacock was shutting down in Sky territories on January 9, 2024, with some Peacock shows being moved to Sky channels and others being available on Hayu . In March 2023, Comcast's NBCUniversal and Sky and MultiChoice announced a partnership on Showmax in Africa, with NBCU owning 30% of the new entity and MultiChoice owning 70%. The joint venture will harness Peacock technology and include content from Peacock and Sky , as well as African content, such as Showmax Originals and local content from MultiChoice's proprietary channels, including Mzansi Magic, Africa Magic and Maisha Magic at re-launch. The relaunch of
43656-424: Was elected as commissioner to succeed Rozelle; his 17-year tenure, which ended in 2006, was marked by large increases in television contracts and the addition of four expansion teams, as well as the introduction of league initiatives to increase the number of minorities in league and team management roles. The league's current Commissioner, Roger Goodell , has focused on reducing the number of illegal hits and making
43870-732: Was expanded to allow CBS, NBC, and ESPN/ABC to stream games on their respective over-the-top streaming services. For each of the packages the respective network partners currently hold, ESPN/ABC is paying US$ 2.7 billion a year; CBS, Fox, and NBC are each paying more than US$ 2 billion a year; and Amazon is paying US$ 1 billion a year. The current deal runs through the 2033 season. The league also has deals with Spanish-language broadcasters NBC Universo , Fox Deportes , and ESPN Deportes , which air Spanish language dubs of their respective English-language sister networks' games. The league's contracts do not cover preseason games, which individual teams are free to sell to local stations directly;
44084-601: Was folded into a new MSNBC hub, featuring original content and on-demand streaming of selected MSNBC programs. In January 2021, Peacock premiered The Overview , a weekly series hosted by Gadi Schwartz that features conversations on news topics and "paradigm shifts" impacting the world. In January 2022, Peacock launched 24/7 streaming local news channels from the NBC Owned Television Stations division. The channels feature simulcast and encore news programming, along with breaking news and original content produced by its NBC station's local news operations. The four markets launched
44298-810: Was given a soft launch in the UK and Ireland on November 16, 2021, to all Sky and Now subscribers. On January 25, 2022, Peacock further expanded in Sky territories, soft launching in Austria and Germany, followed by Italy on February 15 and Switzerland on March 2. On August 18, 2021, Comcast announced an agreement with Paramount Global (then known as ViacomCBS) to launch SkyShowtime, a joint streaming service combining programming from both companies, including Peacock Originals, which will be based on Peacock's infrastructure. The service would be available in 20 smaller European territories, including four Nordic countries along with Hungary and Poland , where it will replace Paramount Global's Paramount+ (Nordic countries) or its eponymous SVOD service (Hungary and Poland, where it
44512-483: Was known as Paramount Play), instead of Peacock and Paramount+ operating separately in those markets. SkyShowtime was released on September 20, 2022, in the Nordics, launched in October 25 in the Netherlands and Portugal, launched in the former Yugoslav countries (except North Macedonia ) on December 14 and in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe on February 14, 2023. SkyShowtime finished its expansion by releasing in Spain and Andorra on February 28, 2023. Peacock
44726-486: Was later announced on December 9, 2021, that the pay-one window would be brought forward to as little as 45 days after a film's initial theatrical release (though Universal's deals with theater chains regarding the premium video on demand window for these films would be unaffected by this move). In January 2022, NBC's Spanish-language sister network Telemundo announced TPlus, a new "content hub" for Spanish-language programming on Peacock Premium that will launch later in
44940-443: Was moved to prime time. For the last week of the season, the Tennessee Titans – Indianapolis Colts game was moved, switching places with the Kansas City Chiefs – New York Jets game that was originally scheduled in the Sunday night slot; the Titans needed a win to secure the final AFC playoff spot. In addition, the annual preseason Pro Football Hall of Fame Game telecast was shifted to NFL Network , in anticipation of NBC airing
45154-400: Was played on September 4 started at 7 p.m. Eastern Time instead of the normal 8:30 p.m. time in order to avoid conflict with the nomination speech that John McCain gave at the Republican National Convention that night; the game ended at 10:01 p.m. Eastern Time, averting any conflict. As had happened in 2007, a team played on consecutive Sunday nights due to a game being moved into
45368-542: Was shut down on April 4, 2021. In May 2021, Peacock announced that it had ordered WWE Evil , a documentary series created, produced, and narrated by John Cena that chronicles WWE's most prominent antagonists . WWE committed to produce a "signature documentary" for the service annually beginning in 2022; the first— Wooooo! Becoming Ric Flair — was released in December 2022. Peacock carries NBC Sports and Telemundo Deportes programming, including live events either in simulcast with NBC or Telemundo , or exclusive to
45582-403: Was the only game to be affected. The NFL announced on November 8 that the Week 13 rivalry game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots was moved to 1 p.m. Eastern on CBS, while a replacement game would be announced by November 22. This was due to the Colts struggling without their star quarterback Peyton Manning (without him, the Colts lost 62–7 to the New Orleans Saints in
45796-401: Was the result of the NBA season being suspended for more than four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic earlier, causing an atypical conflict between the sports. The Eagles ( Philadelphia 76ers ), 49ers ( Golden State Warriors ), and Vikings ( Minnesota Timberwolves ) have NBA teams in their markets, but of the three teams, the 76ers were the only team to make the playoffs, eventually losing in
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