On Saturday night, the Green Bay Packers face the Chicago Bears in a rare playoff matchup between the historic rivals. It’s one of the highlights of Wild Card weekend. But unless you have an Amazon Prime Video subscription or live in a local market, you won’t be able to watch it.
The NFL wanted Packers-Bears to be showcased on Amazon because they are so happy with the Thursday Night Football package on the streamer and wanted to give them one of the best games of Wild Card weekend. The streamer averaged nearly 15 million viewers per game in 2025, the largest audience for the series regardless of if it aired on linear television or not.
But not everyone is happy about the setup.
There is still the matter of everyday fans having to fork over the dough for an Amazon Prime subscription who want to watch the historic rivalry game in the postseason. And while fans may be willing to sacrifice a regular season game here or there, the playoffs are a different story.
Sensing that potential frustration amongst the masses, it’s a great opportunity for a politician to step in, slam corporate greed for ruining America, and deliver a populist message that fans deserve to watch their favorite teams on free over-the-air television. That’s exactly what Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate and former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes did with this social media video.
Saturday, millions of Wisconsinites won’t be able to watch the Packers because of corporate greed.
Football should be for the fans, not just subscribers. pic.twitter.com/nVIP01XL5Q
— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) January 9, 2026
“This Saturday, it’s the Packers versus the Bears, one of the oldest rivalries in football. And for a game this big, we think we want every Packer fan to be able to watch. But 40% of the state won’t be able to watch the game on their TV unless they have an Amazon Prime membership,” Barnes said. “Why? Because corporate greed. Amazon and the NFL are ripping off Wisconsinites to grow their own pocketbooks.”
“The Packers are the only team in the league not owned by billionaires. But we’re still getting screwed by mega corporations. As Governor, I’ll fight to make sure that every game is broadcast to every Wisconsinite in all 72 counties. Enough is enough. These corporations are screwing us. Football should be for the fans, not just the subscribers. Go Pack Go,” Barnes concluded.
The Packers-Bears game will be airing locally in Green Bay and Milwaukee, so fans in those markets will at least have access without needing an Amazon subscription. However, fans in the rest of the state won’t be so lucky.
Barnes is far from the first politician to knock the idea of football games being behind exclusive paywalls and inaccessible to fans unless they want to pay up. Ohio legislators have repeatedly attempted to introduce bills to ban Ohio State from exclusive Peacock games, but to no avail. And given the millions and millions of dollars thrown around by tech companies and streamers to get these games, and the NFL’s contentment with the setup (and the $1.2 billion annually that comes pouring in from Amazon), it’s not changing anytime soon.