Jets vs. Colts. Giants vs. Patriots. Twitter vs. everybody.
In what may go down as one of the biggest upsets in NFL history, Twitter has won the global digital rights to the football league's 2016 Thursday night games.
It's something of a come-from-behind victory for Twitter, which was not among the many major names -- a list that included Facebook, Amazon and Verizon -- that were reported to be in the running.
The deal allows Twitter to stream 10 live Thursday night football games for free, along with pre- and post-game shows and behind-the-scenes looks through livestreaming feature Periscope.
"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", said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a press release.
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Bloomberg first reported the news on Tuesday morning.
It's a major move for Twitter, a company that has been struggling to fight the perception in the media and on Wall Street that it has stalled. The company has struggled to grow its user base, but had roughly $3.5 billion in cash to start 2016.
Details of the deal were not immediately made public, meaning it is not yet known how much Twitter paid for the deal.
The deal will allow Twitter to stream the games for free around the world. This is a new step for the NFL as it looks to expand globally, and follows on its deal with Yahoo last season to stream just one game around the world. The deal reportedly cost Yahoo $20 million.
Re/code reported that Twitter paid less than $10 million for the entire package.
"This is about transforming the fan experience with football. People watch NFL games with Twitter today," said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. "Now they'll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights."
NFL games are among the most desirable media rights on the market, thanks to huge audiences that tend to attract major advertisers.
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The package Twitter purchased is a very particular slice of the overall NFL pie. It will have the global digital rights for just the 10 Thursday night slate of games in 2016.
Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, said that Twitter's win is a big surprise, as the company was up against serious competition.
There are also serious questions about just how Twitter will host the video and whether it can convince advertisers to join in the experiment.
"That's a huge gamble, and we all know the gamble didn't pay off for Yahoo," Dawson said.
The deal will allow Twitter to stream the games for free around the world.
It's a bold move for Twitter. In some sense, there's a natural pairing between the platform and the content. Twitter tends to do well around live events, particularly sporting events. (Monday night's NCAA men's basketball championship is a good example).
Twitter has been pushing into media both from a technology and a partnership side. It has developed a native video player and introduced Periscope, its live-streaming product.
It has also been cultivating a relationship with the NFL. In August, the two companies signed a deal to bring more video highlights to Twitter.
The deal could signal a broader move by Twitter into sports as well as live media rights, which can be a lucrative area to occupy.
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Twitter had previously explored streaming other events, including a 2012 deal with Pepsi for live concerts.
There are some limitations for Twitter in the deal. Twitter will reportedly have limited ability to advertise within the stream, which will come from CBS and NBC. It also won't be able to stream to mobile phones, since Verizon already owns those rights.
The NFL has publicly stated that it wanted to use these rights to explore how its content would do when streamed over the Internet.
With Twitter, the NFL has a partner that will help it figure out how to eventually strike a balance between broadcast and digital, while also providing global reach as the league looks to expand internationally.
The NFL is the world's richest sports league by almost any metric, with many of its individual franchises worth more than $1 billion. That's primarily due to TV rights, which are projected to net the NFL $7.3 billion in 2016.
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NFL's Twitter deal is icing on an already huge cake. The broadcast rights for the Thursday night games (remember, Twitter is only getting global digital) went to CBS and NBC, which each dropped $425 million for an even split of the 10-game package. That deal also came with digital rights, meaning Twitter won't even have exclusivity on the digital realm in the U.S.
For the first time, consumers in the U.S. and around the world will be able to stream a series of NFL games over the Internet for free.
But don't expect the NFL's whole slate of games to suddenly be available online soon. The league still makes the bulk of its money through traditional TV deals with broadcasters who control huge budgets thanks to advertising money and affiliate fees.
To see the average NFL game, people will still need to tune into their local broadcaster or pay for the DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket package, which costs up to $360 for the season.
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