NFL owners are set to consider a potentially significant shift in the league’s media landscape, with teams poised to gain the ability to sell preseason broadcast rights directly to streaming platforms.

The proposal, which is expected to be discussed at the league’s annual meetings in Phoenix, would open the door for franchises to move preseason games away from their long-established local television partners and onto digital services such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Peacock, YouTube or ESPN+.

For decades, preseason rights have remained one of the few pieces of broadcast inventory controlled at team level within the NFL’s highly centralised media structure. Traditionally, clubs have sold those games to local broadcast affiliates, often as part of wider agreements that include coach’s shows, pregame and postgame programming and team-branded weekly content.

Under the new plan, however, teams would be permitted to market those games directly to streaming services, creating an additional revenue stream at a time when the NFL continues to expand its digital footprint. The move is viewed as relatively modest compared with the league’s national rights packages, but it could still prove significant.

Preseason rights currently tend to generate revenue in the low millions of dollars for most clubs, with larger-market teams potentially commanding considerably more. Allowing teams to sell those rights to streamers — particularly platforms with broader regional or even national reach — could increase their value and further accelerate the NFL’s migration toward digital-first consumption.

There is also discussion around whether clubs could acquire the rights from the league to distribute preseason broadcasts beyond their home markets, a step that would materially alter the way exhibition games are consumed. That possibility would be especially attractive to teams with strong national and international followings, such as the Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders, Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers, whose preseason audiences often extend well beyond their local territories.

For fans in the UK and across Europe, the proposal could carry implications beyond the US media market. While most international viewers currently access preseason coverage through NFL Game Pass on DAZN, Sky Sports and selected league feeds, any move toward team-controlled streaming rights could eventually influence how exhibition games are distributed overseas.

That could be particularly relevant for franchises with established international market rights and large followings outside the United States, including teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers, all of whom continue to build strong audiences in Britain and continental Europe through the NFL’s global expansion strategy. Should clubs eventually be permitted to sell preseason rights beyond their local US territories, there is clear potential for region-specific international packages or club-branded direct-to-consumer streams aimed at overseas fans.

For media partners, it is another sign of the NFL’s willingness to continue experimenting with distribution models. The league already maintains major streaming relationships across its regular-season packages, including exclusive games on Amazon Prime Video, Peacock and Netflix, while YouTube continues to carry NFL Sunday Ticket.

If approved, the change would represent a further erosion of traditional local linear television’s hold on NFL coverage but, for fans, it could make preseason viewing more fragmented, with access increasingly dependent on subscriptions rather than local free-to-air channels.

From a club perspective, however, the appeal is obvious: more flexibility, more monetisable inventory and a chance to reach younger, digitally native audiences in ways that local broadcast deals may no longer fully support.