Are you ready for some NFL football on Twitter?
National Football League (NFL) fans will soon have a new place to watch games. Twitter has been given the rights to stream Thursday night games during the 2016 football season, according to Bloomberg. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed the news, not surprisingly, on Twitter.
Big victory for Twitter
Twitter won the bidding rights against Verizon, Yahoo!, and Amazon.com. Facebook and Apple were also in the running at one time. As part of the deal, Twitter is able to offer in-game highlights of the Thursday night games and pregame Periscope broadcasts from players and teams.
In a statement, Goodell noted:
“Twitter is where live events unfold and is the right partner for the NFL as we take the latest step in serving fans around the world live NFL football. There is a massive amount of NFL-related conversation happening on Twitter during our games and tapping into that audience, in addition to our viewers on broadcast and cable, will ensure Thursday Night Football is seen on an unprecedented number of platforms this season. This agreement also provides additional reach for those brands advertising with our broadcast partners.”
Three for one
This fall Thursday Night Football will be streamed live @twitter so fans will see more of this. https://t.co/s6tbr9FjvY
— Roger Goodell (@nflcommish) April 5, 2016
In December, the NFL sent formal requests for its “Thursday Night Football” package. For the first time, the request included a digital streaming component. In February, the NFL announced that CBS and NBC would each air five games on Thursday nights. All of those games will be simulcast on the NFL Network as well.
