NBC Universal has been reported as a possible candidate to take over Thursday Night Football beginning next season.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

CBS, Fox, NBC and Turner have signaled interest in the Thursday package. As the incumbent, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus would seem to have an advantage. (The net paid $275 million for the eight-game Thursday package last season and re-upped this season for about $300 million.) But the games are said to be a top priority for NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke.

PFT also says that according to the New York Post’s Claire Atkinson:

The negotiations, according to Atkinson, including the possibility of the network that wins the bidding “buying a stake” in NFL Network, the league-owned broadcast operation founded in 2003. Per the report, the league is “concerned about the . . . future” of the operation in an age of cord cutting.

In the last round of negotiations, the NFL cared less about the money and more about the branding of Thursday Night Football. The league wants the Thursday night package to seem as important to fans as Sunday and Monday Night Football. They also would prefer if the network’s number one announcing crew was in charge of the game. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms helped seal the deal for CBS two years ago as Sports Business Journal points out:

The NFL executives kept coming back to a few common themes about CBS. The league was most impressed with CBS’s status as the top-rated broadcast network in prime time. Thanks to that standing, CBS offered the biggest potential audience for the Thursday night package. Plus, CBS promised to use its top TV talent and broadcasters to present the games — not just the eight games on CBS, but also the eight games on NFL Network, giving the package a high-quality production look-and-feel that it hadn’t had before. “Everyone was aggressive,” Rolapp said. “We chose CBS given its reach and commitment to promote NFL Network.”

Is NBC willing to let Thursday Night Football overshadow Sunday Night Football? Is 71-year-old Al Michaels willing to go cross-country to two cities every week? Will Hollywood studios be happy that they have one less night they can sell programming to a major broadcast network? Does NBC even have the money to buy NFL rights when they just spent a ton on the Olympics and renewed Premier League rights?

These are all thoughts that make me question the possibility of NBC winning the rights race. But there are other reasons, which convince me that NBC has what it takes to challenge CBS with bidding set to begin soon.

1. Promotional power across a diverse amount of network/cross promotional opportunities and selling advertising with WWE – NBCUniversal owns 16 national cable networks along with 15 regional sports and news networks. With that amount of reach, NBCU would be able to promote TNF football games across a plethora of networks which reach different audiences at a faster rate than CBS would be able to with their array of channels. NBCU would also be able to provide advertisers with a valuable combo pack of ad slots for a premium if they combined Thursday Night Football and WWE’s Thursday night Smackdown (moving to USA Network) – both of which reach a desired demo, young males.

2. NFL Network bundled up with Comcast owned networks in retrans negotiations – Pairing NFL Network with USA Network, NBCSN, NBC O&Os and NBCU’s other reputable channels will virtually guarantee NFLN with carriage across all cable and satellite operators due to the leverage NBCU’s slate brings to the table.

3. NBCUniversal production companies can produce football-orientated programming for audiences not necessarily targeted for football – NBCU’s production companies are very well aware of how to reach different types of audiences because they service all types of demos. As the NFL aims to continue expanding their brand towards non-football fans, they can lean on an experienced production firm with knowledge of what their specific audiences want in the programming they watch. The NFL is already working with NBC News to produce this kind of programming already – Together We Make Football on the Today Show.

4. NBCSN can distribute NFL Network programming to wider audiences than CBSN – Part of the new TNF deal will include a plan to grow NFL Net’s popularity. NBCSN is distributed in 83 million homes compared to CBS Sports Network’s 61 million homes. NBCSN has a wider platform to provide fans with preview of what they can watch on NFLN (69 million homes). Reruns of series such as America’s Game or The Timeline could help draw viewership down the road for NFLN after fans have sampled the shows on NBCSN.

5. NBC is already involved with the cord cutting business via SeeSo – The NFL has experimented with providing options for cord-cutters through NFL Game Pass and NFL Now. NBC is gaining experience in this category after launch a comedy subscription network, SeeSo. Comcast is also launching an online streaming service known as Stream. All of this means that Comcast has the technology capabilities and understanding to help the NFL leverage their library of content and games into a subscription business if that was their future desire. Comcast also owns stakes in BuzzFeed and SB Nation who could help produce exclusive content for a hypothetical cord cutting business. NBC has also recently developed relationships with data trackers who will could hypothetically help the NFL understand their audiences better. (It should be noted CBS owns four online exclusive networks – CBSN, Showtime Anytime, Smithsonian Earth and CBS All Access.)

6. NBC can reach the growing Spanish demographic through Telemundo and NBC Universo –The NFL is reportedly considering growing their market in Mexico City which could help expand the game’s likability among Hispanic fans. For those who enjoy the animation of Spanish-speaking commentators, a broadcast on Telemundo or NBC Universo may be the perfect option to get them engaged with the game.

7. Comcast might be willing to overpay – CBS has already said on the record that if the economics of a deal don’t make sense and the NFL is forcing their hand, they’ll pull out. This makes sense because CBS still has a winning ratings lineup of shows and NFL rights on Sunday afternoons. Comcast/NBC, on the other hand, may be more willing to splurge for games. NBC has high regard for live TV (except for the Olympics awkwardly enough) we’ve seen with holiday musicals, Undateable, SNL, Best Time Ever, AGT and SNF. NFL football is also the only kind of TV programming whose ratings are not declining, which equals more ad revenue. It is highly unlikely that Comcast will place a bid for the Big Ten as competitive as Fox or ESPN so these NFL rights will be the last big sports property they can buy over the next 10 years. All of these factors may prove Comcast’s sense of urgency to acquire these rights even if it affects their ability to keep NBCSN’s signature Premier League package. (Ed note: NBC signed a six year renewal with the Premier League earlier this year.)

Should Comcast win these rights, it would be interesting to see how much the NFL would let them experiment. Comcast has recently invested in virtual reality and online media powerhouses (Vox/BuzzFeed) which could help transform the way younger viewers watch the game.

ESPN’s CFP Megacast has also helped change the way fans watch games. Would NFL let NBC do a tri-cast with NBC/NFLN showing the same feed (a traditional sportscast) while NBCSN is airing an alternative broadcast with the same commercials?

With the NFL’s desire to go online, you also have to wonder whether these NBC TNF games would be simulcast online for free on another content provider like Yahoo or Verizon and whether that would affect NBC and NFL Network’s viewership.

There are more questions than answers with this situation. It will be interesting to see how the rights race develops over the next couple of weeks and months going forward.

Jessie Karangu is a senior at the University of Maryland majoring in broadcast journalism. Karangu is a native of Baltimore, Maryland with Kenyan roots. Karangu is the editor in chief of Pulsefeedz, a college news and entertainment site, and occasionally rants and raves about sports media on JMan’s Media Zone.