Fox Closes Five-Year Deal To Broadcast Thursday Night Football

If you're looking to watch the NFL on Thursday nights next fall, you are going to need to watch some of the games on Fox.

The NFL and Fox have reached a deal for the network to broadcast 11 regular season games between weeks four and 15.

The news was confirmed Wednesday morning by Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, and Peter Rice, president of 21st Century Fox.

The last two seasons, CBS and NBC have shared the rights and handed out a combined $450 million per year for the rights.

It comes at an even greater cost for Fox who wanted TNF to have the one home on the broadcast networks.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox will pay around $550 million annually to air the games, but this will also allow Fox to air the games on a variety of platforms.

“This agreement is the culmination of over 10 years of strategic growth around Thursday Night Football, a period during which this property has grown from a handful of late season games on NFL Network to a full season of games and one of the most popular shows on broadcast television with additional distribution via cable and digital channels,” said Goodell.

“As one of the leaders in sports television and a recognized innovator of NFL game broadcasts for many years, we’re excited to be extending our partnership with Fox Sports, one of our most trusted and valued partners, to include Thursday Night Football."

Like most of the broadcast networks, Fox has been struggling in the ratings, so this may be a good thing to help the network regain some ground.

The other positive is that it gives the network a bigger audience to promote its roster of midseason shows.

This could also be seen as a way for Fox to scale back its scripted offering in favor of airing more sport-related content, but time will tell what the network has in the works.