Over the last few months, the National Football League (NFL) bas been in negotiations with several technology companies to see which firm would stream its Thursday Night Football games. The victor? Twitter.
In a statement on Tuesday, Twitter said that it will stream 10 Thursday Night Football games live over the Internet for free. The games will also be simulcast on the NFL Network. Twitter says its game streams will include pre-game Periscope broadcasts from the teams and players, as well as in-game highlights.
"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," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "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."
The NFL was rumored to have been seeking a streaming partner for the last several months. Several companies, including Yahoo, Facebook, and Apple, were reportedly in the running, but Twitter ultimately won the day.
Twitter has watched its user base stagnate as Facebook, so this could help increase user engagement.
The move might also be a solid one for the NFL. It's arguably the most attractive sports organization in the U.S. and its streaming rights are worth untold sums of money. While it's unknown exactly how much Twitter paid for the streaming rights, earlier reports suggested Apple and others backed away from the talks after the NFL asked for too much to stream its games.
The organization's most recent broadcast deal required CBS and NBC to each pay $45 million per game. While that figure is likely lower for streaming, it's worth noting that Yahoo is rumored to have paid about $20 million to stream just one game last year over the Internet.
Regardless, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey believes his company is on to something with the NFL deal. The move is about "transforming the fan experience with football," he said in a statement.