Thursday Night Football will move to a digital-only format with Amazon Prime Video in 2022, a year earlier than originally announced, the NFL said Monday.
As a result, 2021 will mark the final season of the Thursday night package on FOX.
The NFL’s quicker-than-expected shift to a larger streaming package reflects trends accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors. It is part of a larger set of broadcast deals the NFL reached in March that will also expand digital distribution for all of its current broadcast partners, including FOX, CBS, NBC and ABC/ESPN.
Amazon first partnered with the NFL in 2017 as part of tri-broadcast distribution on Thursday nights. Those games will be available to a national audience only on Amazon Prime Video when the new agreement kicks in for 2022. The NFL, however, has pledged to broadcast them over the air in the broadcast markets of the participating teams.