Skip to main content

Netflix is reportedly making a move that sports fans will love

Will live sports be Netflix's next big thing?

By Joe Allen Jun 17, 2023 5:00 AM

The cast of Love is Blind season 4 posing for the reunion. — Netflix

In an era when more and more people are cutting their cable subscriptions, the one thing that has kept many people on them is live events, and specifically live sports. Live sports are one of the few things cable has that, until recently, many streaming services have lacked. Netflix, the king of the streaming revolution, has more recently started to dabble in the world of live events, though, with mixed success. Now, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the streamer is looking into bringing some live sports to its service this fall.

According to the report, Netflix is in talks to launch a tournament this fall that would feature both professional golfers and Formula One drivers. The tournament would reportedly be set up in Las Vegas, and would include drivers from Netflix’s series Drive to Survive, and golfers from their series Full Swing. Plans are reportedly still in their early stages, and Netflix has declined to comment on whether they are actively planning the event.

Recommended Videos

Netflix has a checkered history with live events

Love is Blind: The Live Reunion | Official Announcement | Netflix

To date, Netflix is one of the few streamers that has not dabbled in adding some live sports to its overall lineup. Services like Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ have added options for viewers to watch sports like Thursday Night Football and the Premier League, sometimes for an additional fee. Netflix has funded some sports documentaries, but to date, they have not offered viewers any live coverage of sporting events.

Netflix has dabbled in live events more generally, though, and with mixed results. Although Chris Rock’s live stand-up comedy set went off without any major hitches, its attempt to air a live Love Is Blind reunion special was met with massive technical difficulties that ultimately kept fans around the world from watching the event live. If Netflix were to try to host live events more regularly, they would obviously need to make sure that they had the technical capabilities required to do so.

Many streamers are moving more toward a cable model

Amazon Prime Video

One of the initial benefits of Netflix was designed to be the way the streamer provided all of its content totally on demand, in sharp contrast to the way that broadcast and cable TV required you to be on your couch at a certain time in order to see it. For all of the benefits of streaming, though, many companies have realized that there were some things about the cable model that should not be so quickly dismissed.

Among those, perhaps the most important was that streamers realized that being profitable was important. As a result, Netflix has both expanded into live events and taken a number of other measures to assure shareholders that it will be a viable business for years to come. Those other measures include cracking down on password sharing, cutting down on the number of high-profile shows they greenlight, and cutting costs more generally.

Joe Allen is a freelance writer at Digital Trends, where he covers Movies and TV. He frequently writes streaming… Read Full Bio

Topics

The Golf Channel’s Betting on Reality TV Again With ‘Big Break,’ Which Returns After More Than 10 Years

Person, Adult, Female

The Big Break was an incredibly popular show on The Golf Channel for over a decade. The reality TV series premiered in 2003 and aired 23 seasons until 2015, when it was canceled. At the time, NBC owned the Golf Channel, and the network made cuts throughout, which included axing Big Break. The series pitted aspiring pro golfers against a series of challenges. Think Survivor meets Wipeout. But the stakes were high, with the winner ultimately receiving the grand prize of a sponsor exemption at a pro golf tournament.

The series, which debuted in 2003, featured a myriad of skills challenges, including the popular “Glass Break” and “Flop Wall” challenges. And after NBC sold off some of its assets, including the Golf Channel, new owner Versant — in collaboration with the golf media company Good Good — is bringing back the popular series for its 24th season, which is being co-hosted by Bachelor in Paradise fame Wells Adams and former LPGA Tour pro and Golf Channel personality Blair O’Neal. The team is also made up of Good Good Golf’s Matt Scharff, who will be a reporter, along with Brad Dalke and Tom “Bubbie” Broders as non-playing team captains.

5 Tips to Man Up Your Interiors with Art and Culture

Lamp, Furniture, Table

At 17, I finally realized that my father was cool all along. His dad jokes were inspired, and his weekend uniform, a knit polo tucked into sensible khakis, was preferable to the ungodly amount of popped collars I layered. Now a well-adjusted 37-year-old, I feel similarly towards my dear grandfather, particularly in his interior decor. Grandpa outfitted his study with culture and art; he didn’t have a mancave, he had a gentleman cave.

Entering your 40s, you’ve conceivably invested in a watch that will outlive you, but not a tip-top display case. You can confidently choose a bottle of whiskey and a cigar, but does your space need decanters or humidors? Should you acquire an oil painting to hang by your Neil Leifer football photography? Some leather-bound classics to accompany your TASCHEN James Bond coffee table book?

We’re only a few months away from our new Bond, Producer Amy Pascal teases

Clothing, Shirt, Adult

Since Daniel Craig bit the big one in his James Bond swan song in 2021’s No Time to Die, fans have been waiting to find out who the next person to drink the martini shaken instead of stirred will be. In true Bond fandom fashion, a whole slew of fancasts have started to muddle the waters as to who could possibly be the new 007. Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and more have all been pitched as possible replacements. Some more ethnically diverse options like Henry Golding and Rene Jean-Page have also emerged. But, alas, no word has come down from on high to give us the scratch to this fan itch raging on for the last five years. That is, until Producer Amy Pascal sat down during her Spider-Man: Brand New Day press tour and gave a bit of insight on when we can expect an announcement, and also what we can expect in the cast.

I would say the end of the year is a good bet. We are being really, really methodical. – Amy Pascal