1. Back in 2021, the NFL negotiated new media rights deals that were set to run through 2033. However, Roger Goodell told CNBC in September that the league has the option to begin renegotiating those rights deals as soon as next year. With ratings up across the board this season, it was already a lock that the NFL would jump on the opportunity to open up negotiations for new television deals. After the massive Thanksgiving ratings, you now have to expect that the NFL would consider selling those games to a streaming service.
The Packers and Lions, in the early window on Fox, drew 47.7 million viewers. Chiefs vs. Cowboys pulled in a whopping 57.2 million viewers for CBS. The Bengals-Ravens game was watched by 28.4 million people in the nightcap on NBC.
All three viewership numbers were records for each time slot.
Netflix has said it wants to get into sports on a “big event” basis. It already has rights to a pair of NFL games on Christmas Day and just acquired rights to MLB’s Opening Day and Home Run Derby. With basically unlimited funds to spend, would it shock anyone if Netflix made a bid for any or all of the Thanksgiving games?
Obviously, this would be a huge blow to CBS and Fox, but the NFL has made it clear it doesn’t have any loyalty to broadcast networks. The league has put playoff games, late-season games with playoff implications, opening week games, a Black Friday game and a weekly Thursday night game on streaming services. (Speaking of Black Friday, Goodell told the Wall Street Journal this week that the league may look to add a second Black Friday game.)
Not only has this led to CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN losing key games, but it has diluted the weekly 1 p.m. and 4:25 p.m. slates.
The NFL, like everyone and everything else, cares about one thing and one thing only: Money. If Netflix or Prime or Apple wants Thanksgiving, the NFL isn’t going to say, “Hey, we’d love to help you out, but we’re going to take less money from CBS, Fox and NBC.”
2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning. This week’s show features an interview with College GameDay host Rece Davis.
Davis reminisces about being at ESPN for 30 years, his early days on ESPN2 and his time as a SportsCenter anchor.
In addition, Davis, who has now been the host of GameDay for 10 years, talks about what it was like to replace Chris Fowler, his favorite Lee Corso memory, whether he cares about GameDay ratings, why he stayed at ESPN instead of leaving for Fox, whether he thinks he can challenge his co-hosts and the most difficult thing about hosting GameDay.
Other topics discussed with Davis include the claim that ESPN has an SEC bias, calling Bill Belichick’s first game at North Carolina and the aftermath, the Lane Kiffin saga and how he’d fix the college football playoff.
Following Davis, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, Sal gives an update on his WFAN status, we talk about our Thanksgivings, look ahead to a monster NFL week, react to Spotify’s list of the top 10 podcasts of 2025 and discuss some content creators.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.
3. I’m not sure why anyone would want a 10-part docuseries on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (or any team for that matter), but Prime Video has you covered beginning on Dec. 11.
From 0-and-26 to two-time Super Bowl champions, this ten-part series chronicles one of the greatest transformations in all of sports.
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) December 3, 2025
Coming to Amazon Prime on Dec. 11, "Raise the Flags" celebrates 50 seasons of the Buccaneers -- a deep dive into the team's legacy, iconic… pic.twitter.com/wJNiWXAS9b
Meanwhile, Netflix will release a John Elway documentary on Dec. 22.
ELWAY premieres December 22.
— Netflix (@netflix) December 4, 2025
Told in his own words, the definitive story of Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway goes deep on his NFL dreams, heartbreaks and Super Bowl redemption. pic.twitter.com/XP8SEXQeOO
4. I always love watching Joe Burrow interviews, because he never gives you the robotic, cookie-cutter answers. He puts thought into what he’s going to say. So I enjoyed listening to the LSU alum talk about the Lane Kiffin hire.
Joe Burrow’s Reaction to Lane Kiffin Being Named Head Coach at LSU is HILARIOUS🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/8VsBCwgFvr
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) December 3, 2025
5. If anyone would be able to get away with the “Sorry, I didn’t see your text” excuse, it would be Adam Schefter. However, the ESPN NFL insider seems to have a zero-unread text policy.
I believe @AdamSchefter is the greatest texter on earth. Everyone gets a response almost instantly. And then as we talked about it on This Is Football I discovered something insane:
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) December 3, 2025
Adam has *zero* unread texts. This despite a near constant stream of texts. I have 878 unread. pic.twitter.com/KM7KuUnIev
6. Do these people know the game is completely meaningless and both teams are making the playoff?
Ticket prices for this weekend's Big Ten Championship game have EXPLODED since the start of the week.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) December 4, 2025
The cheapest tickets are now $588 — the highest price ever for a Big Ten Championship game.
The same tickets were selling for just $24 last year.
(Data via @TickPick) pic.twitter.com/rXqT4oqeln
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 61st birthday to Marisa Tomei.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Much Longer Will NFL Thanksgiving Games Air on Broadcast TV?.
