‘Thursday Night Football’ on Prime Video will start at one of the NFL’s most iconic locations.
The Green Bay Packers will host the Washington Commanders on Thursday, Sept. 11 (Week 2) in the first ‘TNF’ game of the season.
‘It’s a really strong schedule,’ Amazon Prime Video head of US Sports programming Jeff Kaiser told USA TODAY Sports. ‘It’s deep and well-balanced. We look to continue the positive ratings momentum.’
And?
“No place better than to open the season at Lambeau in early September,” Kaiser said.
Of the 15 other games, 10 are divisional matchups, among them the Bills facing the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers squaring off. Kaiser said the divisional games have a lot of ‘upside’ and worked out well for Prime Video in 2024.
‘There’s always intrigue, especially late in the season when there’s playoff spots on the line,’ he said.
Vibrant stadium atmospheres matter to Amazon, Kaiser said. Shoulder programming – aka the studio show – thrives in those environments. Viewers respond well to fans losing their minds on the screen.
“The iconic stadiums like a Lambeau, like Buffalo, like Philadelphia or Detroit, where the crowds are excited, it’s noisy, it really kicks up the excitement,” Kaiser said.
This year, Prime Video is bookending the holiday season with its third iteration of the Black Friday game, this time with the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Chicago Bears. It’s the second straight year the defending Super Bowl champion has been involved in the game.
Other highlights include a Dallas Cowboys-Detroit Lions game. Two of the teams on the ‘TNF’ docket twice are the Eagles and the Buffalo Bills, with reigning Most Valuable Player Josh Allen.
‘It’s huge for Prime to get the Super-Bowl champs twice,’ Kaiser said.
Prime Video has increased ‘TNF’ in each of its first three years as the exclusive streamer. Games were up 11% year-over-year in 2024 (13% including the Black Friday game). The streamer has also touted its interest among younger fans in the key 18-34 demo (bringing in nearly 4 million viewers in that range during the first-ever wild-card weekend game on Prime between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens).
A big draw was the Chiefs on Black Friday and a wild matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions in December helped spur the increase. Prime Video will again air a wild-card matchup in January as its final game of the season.
Like all broadcast partners, Amazon starts meetings with the league regarding the next regular-season schedule starting in January. Those progress through May, when a nearly five-month process that seems to grow every year ends. The general rule of thumb: everyone receives a fair amount of what they ask for and is denied a fair amount as well.
“We’ve learned a lot together the past three seasons,” Kaiser said.
He added: ‘We’re really thrilled with how the slate ended up.’
Full ‘Thursday Night Football’ schedule in 2025
Games kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET with pregame programming starting at 7 p.m. ET.
Week 2 – Sept. 11: Washington Commanders at Green Bay Packers
Week 3 – Sept. 18: Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills
Week 4 – Sept. 25: Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals
Week 5 – Oct. 2: San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams
Week 6 – Oct. 9: Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants
Week 7 – Oct. 16: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals
Week 8 – Oct. 23: Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Chargers
Week 9 – Oct. 30: Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins
Week 10 – Nov. 6: Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos
Week 11 – Nov. 13: New York Jets at New England Patriots
Week 12 – Nov. 20: Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans
*Week 13 (Black Friday) – Friday, Nov. 28: Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles
Week 14 – Dec. 4: Dallas Cowboys at Detroit Lions
Week 15 – Dec. 11: Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 16 – Dec. 18: Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks
Week 17 – Dec. 25: Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs