Even players are stunned about the NFL’s streaming-only playoff game.
Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu took to social media to express his dismay over Kansas City’s wild-card game against the Dolphins on Saturday night being a Peacock-exclusive broadcast.
“Us playing on peacock ONLY is insane I won’t lie,” Omenihu wrote Sunday night on X.
The Wall Street Journal reported in May that NBCUniversal reached a one-year deal worth around $110 million with the NFL for Peacock to have exclusive rights to the Saturday night 8 p.m. game for wild-card weekend, the first time an NFL playoff game has been only available through streaming.
The exception will be in the local markets; fans in the Kansas City and Miami areas will be able to watch the game for free on their local NBC affiliates.
Amazon Prime Video bought the exclusive rights to air “Thursday Night Football” starting in the 2022 season, and that is also a streaming-only affair with the exception of the markets of the teams involved.
Peacock also had an exclusive regular-season game, which featured the Bills beating the Chargers, on Dec. 23.
Omenihu, who posted a career-high seven sacks in 11 games this season in his first year with the Chiefs, echoed the sentiment of many fans on social media, who were accusing the NFL of being greedy and not doing what is best for fans.
Former WFAN host Mike Francesa called it an “utterly disgraceful, greedy reach by the NFL.”
“How many people in America don’t have cable TV? How many people in America don’t have smart TV? How many people in America don’t even know what streaming is, no less finding streaming, or [are] willing to pay an extra amount to get a playoff game?” Francesa groaned on his podcast, via a clip shared by @BackAftaThis on X.
“This is a joke that the NFL would do this with their playoff product. It’s bad enough that they would do it with a regular-season game on a Thursday night, or do it with a regular-season game on a Saturday. But to do it with a playoff game is the biggest slap in the face to their national fan base. People wait all year for these playoff games. They love these playoff games, and you’re now gonna charge them extra for a playoff game? They don’t give enough? You don’t make enough?”
NBC will air Texans vs. Browns on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and Lions vs. Rams on Sunday at 8 p.m. for free.
CBS will carry Sunday’s Bills-Steelers game at 1 p.m., while Fox will air Cowboys-Packers Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
ESPN and ABC have Buccaneers-Eagles on Monday night at 8:15 p.m.
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