Netflix Confirms Date for Live Golf Tournament; Service Has Best of Both Worlds with Sports Programming, but No Sports Rights
With an impressive subscriber total exceeding 238 million global customers, there’s no denying Netflix has the purchasing power to acquire a lot of assets. Most speculation surrounding mergers at the company centers on other acquiring external studios, but what about live sports?
Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed that question during the company’s conference call to contextualize its second-quarter earnings report on Wednesday. He acknowledged that Netflix was adding more sports-related programming, but said that as far as live sports went, the company just isn’t quite there yet.
“We really think that we can have a really strong offering for sports fans on Netflix without having to be part of the difficulty of the economic model of live sports licensing,” Sarandos said.
The exec pointed to series like the recently released “Quarterback,” as well as the extremely popular “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” as content that sports fans can engage with at any time, even when their favorite sport isn’t in season. Sarandos identified storytelling as a particular strength of Netflix, which is why these titles — and other sports-focused docuseries — lean into it. He said that shows like “Tour de France: Unchained” helped educate viewers about a sport they didn’t know well, leveraging Netflix’s unique ability to weave a narrative in a way that captivates audiences.
“A few weeks ago, we had ‘Tour de France,’ which did exactly what we saw with ‘Drive to Survive,’” Sarandos explained. “which is introduce a brand-new audience to a sport that’s been around for a really long time and not very well understood. And you do that through exceptional storytelling, not through the liveness of the game.”
After explaining why Netflix wasn’t pursuing wider sports rights, Sarandos did confirm that the service would host its first-ever live sporting event this November when it pulls celebrities from “Drive to Survive” and its similar golf series “Full Swing” together for a golf tournament. The tournament was first reported as in the works in June, but this is the first time it has received a target date.
There are more sports-related series coming to Netflix, as well. The company reportedly outbid ESPN for the rights to a documentary series focusing on Jerry Jones and the 1990s Dallas Cowboys, and currently has a crew embedded with the U.S. Women's National soccer team as it gets set to defend its World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand.
The downturn of linear TV means that sports leagues will be increasingly looking for streamers to partner with in the near future. Netflix has an impressive amount of buying power, but it won’t rush its pursuit of live sports rights, especially when it can have its cake and eat it too by offering sports-themed series without having to pay the hefty fees associated with live sports.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.