The NFL has announced a major change for the upcoming season, including the addition of two more playoff games. One of these games will air on the children’s network Nickelodeon, and it will be tailor made for a younger audience.
This will be one of the additional Wild Card games that is scheduled to take place on January 10, 2021. The Nickelodeon broadcast, scheduled for 4:40 PM ET, is actually a simulcast of the main broadcast, which will be available on CBS TV and also CBS All Access. The Nickelodeon broadcast will be “separately produced,” featuring a special setup that is “tailored for a younger audience.”
It remains to be seen what, exactly, this means in terms of a viewing experience. This is presumably an effort to help expand the reach of the NFL to a younger audience to help grow the size of the game. The official press release announcing this had no additional details.
The CBS-Nickelodeon synergy makes sense, as Nickelodeon owner Viacom recently merged with CBS to create Viacom CBS, which also owns GameSpot.
The other additional playoff game will be available to watch on NBC, as well as the company’s new streaming service Peacock. The Spanish language channel Telemundo will also carry this game, which is scheduled to take place on January 10, starting at 8:15 PM ET.
For the upcoming NFL season, the number of teams that reach the playoff will rise from 12 to 14. This includes one each from the American and National Football Conferences.
All of this is presuming that the upcoming NFL season begins normally. Pending any disruption from the COVID-19 crisis, the season is scheduled to start in September.
Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company
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