Bills-Chargers game offers potential glimpse into broadcasting future

Perhaps the league is listening.

On Saturday night, Peacock — NBC's streaming service — aired its first exclusive game: the Buffalo Bills at Los Angeles Chargers. During the fourth quarter, the broadcast included commercials, perhaps a first in NFL history.

In case you missed it, Front Office Sports detailed how the fourth quarter went prior to the broadcast:

"While the fourth quarter won’t feature commercials, it will have content takeovers and game features with information and analysis coming from the broadcast booth and NBC Sports' studio. That means standard breaks between timeouts, changes of possessions, and scores will likely still take place. But on Saturday, instead of getting bombarded with Whopper jingles and pushes for a new cell phone, viewers will be treated to whatever NBC has up its sleeve."

If the game went to overtime, the extra period would be commercial-free, too. This arrangement will also be in place for Peacock's exclusive wild-card playoff game in January.

It makes sense for the NFL to go commercial-free during a streaming broadcast rather than a game shown on a network. With fans paying to watch Saturday's Bills-Chargers game — a premium subscription to Peacock costs $5.99 per month — the league and NBC can afford to take a chance on a commercial-free quarter.

If this is a success, perhaps the league's other streaming partner — Prime Video — could implement the same feature for its "Thursday Night Football" broadcasts. 

There could even come a day when Fox, CBS or ESPN enter the brave, new world of a commercial-free fourth quarter. More replays and football talk are far better than yet another commercial.