If I am signing a decade long deal for broadcast rights, I think it silly to think that you would view the next ten years with Amazon like you would Fox or Disney. Apples and oranges. Traditional media companies are dying, that's why all their assets are in play. Amazon, and those like them, are the future. Do you want to grow with your partner over the life of the contract or wither and die with them? Amazon is a threat to the P5 simply because they disrupt the status quo. They offer a platform unlike anyone else, and if the P5 conferences are locked into long term contracts with traditional media companies with declining viewers, you might have an advantage in being first to market with an Amazon.
If I’m signing a decade-long media rights deal, I would view Amazon with a hell of a lot more skepticism than I would look at Disney. This is a toe-in-the-water move for Amazon. If the water’s too cold, Amazon will pull the plug and then you’d be screwed.
First off, Amazon is way, way, way behind Disney/ESPN in any meaningful metric. You know who is the current leader in broadcasting sports? ESPN. Do you know who the leader is in streaming sports? ESPN.
ESPN+ is real. If the traditional method of delivering sports content is in trouble, ESPN+ is ESPN’s plan to deal with it and it’s already live and it’s already quite good. Before Amazon puts a digital shovel in the digital ground, ESPN has built a digital skyscraper.
ESPN is selling sports to people who come to them for sports - it’s a hell of a better starting place than trying to sell sports to people who come to you for the free two-day shipping.
But it should be noted that Amazon is actually bidding on traditional networks here. My guess is just like we saw them do with their HQ2 nonsense, Amazon is really just in this to gather information for some other day.