WSJ News Exclusive | Amazon Wants Its NFL Coverage to Come in Different Flavors

One of these alternate streaming feeds will be hosted by Dude Perfect, a sports-comedy team known for performing trick shots and challenges—like pitching a ball through the open window of a moving car or having professional-athlete guests such as former quarterback

Drew Brees

perform similar types of stunts.

“It was essential we differentiated ourselves,” said

Marie Donoghue,

Amazon’s vice president of global sports video, of the company’s multiple-feed strategy.

Amazon’s move comes as a number of broadcasters have experimented with alternate feeds offering a less-serious approach to football coverage.

Walt Disney Co.

’s ESPN had success with its alternate “Monday Night Football” telecast last season on ESPN2, co-hosted by brothers and former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning.

Paramount Global’s

Nickelodeon has aired alternate telecasts of CBS Sports’ NFL coverage, featuring digitally imposed green slime monsters on the field, with announcers like CBS’s

Nate Burleson

and Nickelodeon actors explaining the rules of the game in a bid to attract a younger audience.

Amazon said the Dude Perfect alternate stream will appear multiple times throughout the coming season. It will be broadcast from their headquarters and studio in Frisco, Texas, said

Tyler Toney,

one of the members of Dude Perfect. The group plans to have one of the team’s five members work the sidelines of each game, Mr. Toney said.

During their broadcast, the members of the Dude Perfect team will sit around a desk calling the game plays, Mr. Toney said. But rather than sitting still throughout the game, the team will also be moving throughout their headquarters to do what they do best—challenges and stunts, he said.

“This will be an opportunity for families to watch together,” Ms. Donoghue said. “Dude Perfect is young, fun and interactive.” Dude Perfect’s YouTube channel has 58 million subscribers, second only to World Wrestling Entertainment among YouTube sports channels.

One of the team’s early ideas for the broadcast is “Dunk Tank Drive,” in which there will be two dunk tanks, one Dude sitting in each. They will go back and forth predicting the next play. “Whoever gets it correct gets to throw a ball at the opposing guy’s target to try and dunk him,” Mr. Toney said.

Although Prime Video has streamed “Thursday Night Football” since 2019, it was a simulcast of coverage from

Fox Corp.’s

Fox and the NFL Network. This coming season will be the first time the games are available exclusively on Prime Video.

The NFL has looked to expand its reach beyond cable and broadcast networks. The “Thursday Night Football” deal with Amazon’s Prime Video—which is used by 80 million U.S. households, the company said—was the NFL’s biggest step in that direction. The league is also in talks with Amazon and

Apple Inc.

about acquiring the rights for its Sunday Ticket package when the current deal with satellite broadcaster DirecTV expires after the 2022-23 season, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Amazon’s coming “Thursday Night Football” schedule begins on Sept. 15, and the company has yet to announce which games Dude Perfect will host in an alternate stream. Amazon plans to make further announcements for more alternate feeds, with the goal of having one or two alternate feeds in addition to the main broadcast each week. There will also be a Spanish-language alternate stream, and all feeds will be available on the social-media platform Twitch on top of Prime Video. Twitch is also owned by Amazon.

Amazon approached Dude Perfect and asked them to create a pilot episode using a football game from last season—a December game in which the Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Commanders 56-14. (At the time, the Commanders were known as the Washington Football Team.)

“It was an absolute blowout, so we had to keep the audience entertained,” Mr. Toney said.

Write to Lillian Rizzo at [email protected]