Netflix Is Investing in Sports Without Paying for Live Sports Rights; Is Streamer Stealing HBO’s Thunder?
Netflix may have agreed to a licensing deal to import HBO originals recently, but its latest moves might have Warner Bros. Discovery crying foul and looking for a referee. The world’s largest streamer has announced it has secured the rights to a new docuseries following the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. The show will feature veteran champions like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe — who recently announced that 2023 would be her last World Cup — 18-year-old newcomer Alyssa Thompson, as well as U.S. Women’s World Cup Team first-timers Sofia Huerta, Lynn Williams, and Kristie Mewis.
The show will follow the team during its 2023 FIFA World Cup quest in New Zealand, which starts this week, and is currently in production. Because it is an unscripted reality series, it will not be affected by the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike that has shut down most projects in Hollywood these days.
Warner Bros. Discovery acquired broadcasting and streaming rights to a package of U.S. national soccer team games in March of 2022. The agreement allows for WBD’s channels TNT and TBS, as well as its streaming platform Max to broadcast around 20 games from the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams per year, so it’s a little surprising that the company would allow a competing streamer to release a docuseries like this, rather than doing a version of it on its own.
For decades, HBO has been one of the leaders in premium sports content from marquee boxing matches to “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” to decades of Emmy-winning, sports-centric documentaries. However, as WBD is tightening its belt, the company is publicly eschewing discussions about adding new sports rights, so perhaps CEO David Zaslav and company prefer to allow Netflix to invest in the series, which should only help drive interest to the games airing on WBD platforms.
Either way, this is not the first encroachment by Netflix into sports ground that WBD tread first. The Netflix series “Quarterback,” which goes behind-the-scenes with Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Marcus Mariota of the Atlanta Falcons and Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings is climbing streaming charts in the U.S. amidst rave reviews.
That success comes as HBO is preparing a new season of “Hard Knocks,” which takes viewers to a chosen NFL squad’s training camp for an in-depth look at how players and coaches prepare for a season. This year’s edition of “Hard Knocks” will debut on Tuesday, Aug. 8, and will cover Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.
WBD would have reason to feel its toes have been stepped on, but for Netflix, “Quarterback” and the new series following the USWNT are just a part of its overall strategy of lining up big-name sports stars and programming without actually offering live sports. The streamer recently acquired the rights to another NFL series focused on the 1990s Dallas Cowboys, and it has tennis, golf and Formula 1 racing-themed shows as part of its library as well.
Getting the rights to live sports is an expensive process, which explains why Netflix is building up its sports-themed programming before it takes the step of providing sporting events directly to viewers. That step may be forthcoming, as the company is reportedly aiming to stream a celebrity golf tournament to its subscribers at some point this fall.
Netflix
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