Peacock Asked NFL to ‘Trust Us’ for Exclusive NFL Wild Card Game; Worked With Internet Providers for Smooth Delivery
Brian Roberts said in a recent interview that he ‘asked the NFL to trust us’ to make an exclusive Wild Card game a success.
If NFL fans who fear a future of pay-per-view games had a problem with the placement of a 2023-24 Wild Card game exclusively on Peacock, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts hasn’t heard about it. Speaking with Front Office Sports about a wide range of sports topics, Roberts was highly proud of his company’s efforts in streaming the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins, and he had a blunt warning for those who would prefer sports remain only on linear TV.
- “We took the risk…” Roberts said about the Peacock-exclusive Wild Card game.
- Roberts also spoke about his excitement regarding the upcoming Summer Olympics, which will stream on Peacock.
- The CEO also touched briefly on continuing discussions that Comcast will pursue NBA rights.
“One way or another, sports is coming to streaming,” Roberts said. “And one way or another, our company is best positioned to participate in that. While we don’t have answers to every question, I think this is a really good thing, net, for our company.”
NBCUniversal holds a wide range of professional and college sports rights, but that’s only part of what Roberts meant. There’s no doubt that Peacock was rewarded for “[taking] the risk,” as Roberts puts it, in offering a streaming-only NFL playoff game; the streamer reportedly saw the largest single day of sign-ups in any streaming service's history. But it was also the most-streamed live event ever and drove record amounts of internet traffic while it was on.
“We asked the NFL to trust us and pitched the concept to Roger Goodell and his team,” Roberts told FOS. “We then had to make sure the whole internet was ready.”
One of the struggles that many have with streaming live sports is the unreliability of the feeds and internet connections. This issue was on full display for the Super Bowl earlier this month when multiple streaming providers experienced service interruptions during the Big Game, and every platform dealt with varying degrees of latency delays.
Being the first streaming-exclusive playoff game in NFL history, Roberts knew that Peacock would need to deliver a high-quality and consistent stream throughout the course of the broadcast. So, he reached out to some of the biggest internet providers in the country in order to make sure that everything was in place for the game.
“I personally spoke to everybody from Amazon Web Services to AT&T to Verizon to Charter,” Roberts said, “and everybody in our engineering team did the same with Akamai and everybody else in the whole online bandwidth ecosystem.”
Of course, Comcast is the largest broadband provider in the United States, so the success of the game was important to multiple sides of Roberts’ company. Thanks to how smoothly things went, Comcast was able to drive more people to two of its products at the same time: its streaming service and its internet plans.
“It reinforced our strategy, and I was proud that the company was the leader in taking the internet to the biggest day it ever had in the U.S.,” Roberts explained proudly. “That doesn’t happen every day in your career. That was a galvanizing moment for the entire company.”
What’s on Peacock’s Sports Horizon?
Roberts also had optimistic words about the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Peacock will stream every event of the games, trying to boost ratings from the last two Olympics which were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the numerous geopolitical conflicts currently taking place, Roberts has hope that the games can live up to the lofty philosophy of international competition and cooperation the Olympics are supposed to engender.
“Will there be global conflict? Inevitably,” Roberts asked rhetorically. “There always is. But the Olympics is that opportunity for 17 days to put your arms down and celebrate humanity, and that was the original concept. So while that is a lofty goal, I really hope and believe that could happen for Paris.”
Roberts was also asked about the potential for Comcast to pursue the NBA. That league’s current broadcast deals with ESPN and TNT expire after the 2024-25 season, and NBC/Peacock have been discussed as a possible NBA partner more than once. Unfortunately for those hoping to get a clear statement of intent from Roberts, he played coy with the possibility.
“Nothing new on the NBA,” he said. “But we’re always interested in acquiring great content, and the NBA certainly offers great content.”
The NBA hoping to double, or perhaps triple the amount of total revenue it makes in its next broadcasting contract, and may have to expand beyond its current partners to achieve that goal. Indeed, the league is looking to sell a streaming-only package of games as part of the deal, but it’s likely that Comcast would want permission to put any games it acquires the rights to on NBC as well as Peacock.
The number of sports offered by Peacock could increase in the future if the streamer follows through on a rumored team-up with Paramount+. Comcast is in an excellent position for the future, both as a streaming provider and an internet service distributor.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.