Netflix’s growing relationship with the NFL appears set to expand again, with multiple reports indicating that the streaming giant is expected to acquire the rights to NFL Honours as the league continues reshaping its media and entertainment strategy around major digital platforms.

According to a report by Front Office Sports, Netflix is now the leading candidate to take over the annual awards show, beginning with the 2027 ceremony, extending a partnership that has rapidly evolved from experimental collaboration into one of the NFL’s most significant media relationships.

NFL Honours has traditionally aired on network television in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, serving as the league’s flagship awards programme with MVP, Coach of the Year, Hall of Fame announcements and Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year honours all unveiled during the broadcast. The event has most recently aired across CBS, FOX and NBC properties depending on Super Bowl rotation, but the league now appears increasingly willing to move premium shoulder programming onto streaming services.

The potential move would represent another major step in Netflix’s accelerating NFL ambitions after the company successfully entered the live NFL space with last season’s Christmas Day double-header. Netflix reportedly paid approximately $150m for the rights to stream the two 2025 Christmas games, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans.

That agreement has already expanded for 2026, with Netflix securing at least one Christmas Day game for each of the next two seasons as the NFL continues to fragment its premium inventory across traditional broadcasters and streaming platforms.

The league’s apparent willingness to place increasingly high-profile content on Netflix reflects both the streamer’s enormous global reach and the league’s broader push to turn football into year-round entertainment rather than a purely seasonal sports product. NFL Honours fits neatly within that strategy as, while the ceremony itself draws significantly smaller audiences than live games, it carries disproportionate cultural value because of its proximity to the Super Bowl and its ability to generate viral moments, celebrity crossover and social media discussion. The event has increasingly leaned into entertainment presentation in recent years, featuring comedians, actors and musicians alongside players and coaches.

Netflix’s involvement could also fundamentally alter the scale and tone of the programme. The streamer has aggressively pursued live-event programming over the past 18 months, adding WWE Raw, boxing events and comedy specials while simultaneously investing heavily in sports documentary storytelling through projects such as Quarterback, Receiver and Starting 5.

The NFL has also increasingly embraced that entertainment-first ecosystem. Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions already plays a major role in NFL Honours broadcasts, while the league has become progressively more comfortable packaging its stars through documentary and behind-the-scenes formats designed for streaming audiences rather than conventional sports broadcasts. The possible shift also arrives during a broader transformation of sports rights distribution. Amazon now controls Thursday Night Football, YouTube holds Sunday Ticket rights, Peacock exclusively streams select playoff games, and Netflix has emerged as another serious bidder for premium live inventory.

For the NFL, the attraction is obvious, bringing massive rights fees combined with access to younger global audiences increasingly disconnected from linear television. For Netflix, meanwhile, the league offers perhaps the only consistently reliable source of truly mass live viewership left in American entertainment.

The move would further cement an alliance that, only a few years ago, would have seemed unlikely. Netflix spent years resisting live sports rights entirely. Now it appears poised to become a permanent part of the NFL calendar — and not just on Christmas Day.