As the NFL contemplates the destination of its Thursday Night Football package, a new option has emerged. Multiple destinations.
John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal reports that the NFL is considering the possibility of selling the Thursday night games to two or three broadcast networks.
Specifically, Ourand reports that, in addition to requesting bids for the full-season package, the NFL asked CBS, FOX, and NBC to submit bids for 3-5 games.
The goal for the NFL is to maximize the audience for broadcast games, but also to retain enough exclusive games for NFL Network to justify the monthly subscription fee.
Currently, NBC televises the season-opening Thursday night game and the Thanksgiving night game. CBS produces all other Thursday night games (and a couple of late-season Saturday games), some of which are televised by CBS and NFLN and others of which are televised only by NFLN.