Photo via Awful Announcing

Before Netflix and Amazon, the Jaguars were the NFL’s streaming guinea pig

The Jacksonville Jaguars have long served as an unlikely pioneer for the NFL’s global ambitions, particularly in their annual London games. Since the mid-2010s, the franchise’s overseas matchups—including back-to-back games at Wembley Stadium in 2023—have provided the league with a testing ground for experimental broadcasting.

One of the most notable trials came in 2015, when the Jaguars’ game against the Buffalo Bills became the NFL’s first live regular-season contest streamed exclusively online via Yahoo Sports, a $17 million rights deal. The experiment was so groundbreaking that the league produced a tutorial video to guide fans through the process, underscoring how novel the concept was at the time.

Even with the NFL’s backing, the Jaguars and Bills—two teams with minimal media attention—were an unconventional choice for such a high-profile test, with both squads rarely drawing top-tier broadcast crews that season. Despite the low-stakes matchup, the game marked a turning point in sports streaming, proving that live NFL action could thrive outside traditional cable packages.

The Jaguars’ commitment to London has also extended beyond the field, with owner Shad Khan pushing the team to treat the city as a second home. While the 2015 streaming experiment was a one-off, the franchise’s annual trips have repeatedly allowed the NFL to refine its approach to international fandom, from live-streaming trials to expanded viewing windows.

The league’s willingness to experiment with lesser-known teams like Jacksonville reflects its broader strategy of using these games as a proving ground for innovations that later became standard practice in sports broadcasting.

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