Sports fans have mixed reactions on 'Thursday Night Football' moving to Amazon Prime
APPLETON (WLUK) -- Thursday's Green Bay Packers vs. Tennessee Titans game is another one featured on Amazon Prime, meaning the whole game package can only be watched on Prime.
Football fans are having mixed reviews ever since Thursday Night Football moved to the streaming service.
Thursday Night Football got an exclusive new home starting this year, after Amazon agreed to a multi-billion 11-year deal with the NFL.
It costs $14.99 a month for a membership.
"With a television, you either have to have a smart TV or have to know how to use a gaming device or something else that might give you access to your internet connection and then allow you to stream that way," said Jim Pokrywczynski, an associate professor and sports marketing expert at Marquette University.
Being a sports lover, he tried out Amazon Prime's free 30-day trial when the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders played last month on a Thursday night.
"It's more to the benefit to the NFL than it is to fans, so let's make that clear," said Pokrywczynski.
Many NFL fans reportedly complain about buffering issues -- but Amazon says to double check your internet connection.
"I did drop it at the end of 30 days," said Pokrywczynski.
Tech-enhanced Life, a public benefit corporation, says seniors sometimes have problems using products they want to be able to continue to use, like a TV.
"It's that younger demographic that is what's hoped to be your future fan base that's attracted to streaming sports entities," said Pokrywczynski.
But not everyone is upset about Thursday Night Football being on Amazon Prime -- The 10th Frame, a bar in Appleton, says they've seen an increase in customers on that day.
"It's always fun to go somewhere and have some entertainment, good people watching and cheers with everyone," said Sarah Davis, a manager.
Davis says if you don't have Amazon Prime, you can always catch the games at the 10th Frame.
"We have over 18 TVs, and we just started having a DJ, so we do a lot of fun giveaways, we have a ton of drink specials, a free food plate," said Davis.
The NFL allows one TV station in each “home” market to broadcast games that are otherwise carried only on cable or streaming.
Both Green Bay and Milwaukee are considered “home” markets for the Packers, meaning Packers fans in other parts of the state have to stream the game, or catch it somewhere else.
