Netflix Wins Rights to Documentary Featuring Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys in Latest Move to Bolster Sports Content
America’s Team and the world’s largest streaming service seem like a match made in heaven. Now they’re a match made on Earth as well, as Puck News reports Netflix has won the bidding for rights to a new docuseries featuring the Dallas Cowboys and their billionaire owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
Netflix had to beat out sports giant ESPN to secure the rights, and will pay $50 million to stream the series. It will feature never-before-seen footage, as well as interviews from Cowboys legends like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin. Those who have screened the series already have given it favorable comparisons to “The Last Dance,” the docuseries featuring Michael Jordan’s run with the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls.
It’s hard not to see a pattern forming at Netflix when it comes to sports content. The company has never streamed a live sporting event before, though that could change this fall, when the streamer aims to offer a live golf tournament featuring members of its other sports-themed shows “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” and “Full Swing.” Still, Netflix is clearly attempting to bring more awareness to its platform, especially from sports fans.
In addition to “Drive to Survive” and “Full Swing,” Netflix also carries the tennis docuseries “Break Point” and the NFL-themed show “Quarterback.” The platform now has the ability to provide content from major sports leagues and organizations like ATP tennis, the PGA Tour, Formula 1 racing, and now the NFL, enhancing its reputation among sports fans without having to pay the exorbitant costs associated with pursuing actual live sports rights.
Showing more sports-related content now will help Netflix be thought of as a competent sports streaming service if it ever decides it does want to pursue live sporting events in earnest. Users will have to trust that Netflix can provide them with a sports-viewing experience on par with, or better than, what they have become accustomed to seeing on linear TV.
Part of building that trust will be ensuring that Netflix has its issues with live streaming ironed out. The company tried to air a live reunion episode of its reality series “Love is Blind” earlier this spring, but the stream was beset with technical issues. Those problems sent Netflix back to square one in terms of its livestreaming reputation, and it must do a better job of executing its celebrity golf tournament if such an event becomes reality this fall.
Still, the Dallas Cowboys and Netflix seem like a quintessentially perfect partnership. The new Cowboys docuseries doesn’t have a release date as of yet, but it could find its way onto the service fairly quickly considering the 2023 NFL season is just a few months away; if the service really wants to capitalize on the show, it will offer it when fans don’t have much in the way of NFL content to watch.
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