Report: Twitter to stream Thursday Night Football games

Posted by Josh Alper on April 5, 2016, 7:23 AM EDT
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The NFL has reportedly found a streaming partner for the Thursday Night Football package of games.

Bloomberg reports that Twitter has won the right to stream the games online during the 2016 season. There’s no word on the price that Twitter will be paying to secure the digital rights to the contests.

The league had been looking for a partner for streaming the games and several big companies were reportedly included in the bidding, although Facebook dropped out of the running recently. The league partnered with Yahoo to stream one of the games played in London last season and is expected to make a deal for streaming that portion of the schedule again this season.

CBS and NBC will each air five Thursday night games with NFL Network simulcasting those contests and broadcasting eight Thursday and late season Saturday games on its own.

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33 responses to “Report: Twitter to stream Thursday Night Football games”

  4. Given that Twitter is popular among people with such short attention-spans that they struggle to read or write a single long sentence, I’m not sure if it’s followers will even make it to the first ad-break of a 3hr game.
    (Damn it, that was 220 characters!)

  8. Another way to follow bad football. The Thursday games last season mostly sucked.

  9. Makes me wonder who in the league office is married to, or related to someone at Twitter. Cuz if I have learned anything, its that in politics and business, it isn’t qualifications, its personal relationships that make deals happen, and usually they are shady behind the scenes dealings. Better get Roger’s phone to be sure…

  12. I am so confused. Will Twitter show all the Thursday games or only the ones on NBC/CBS? And what’s with the Thursday games being on three different channels? Does this make any sense whatsoever, or do they just have only this one product to play with as the others are accounted for forever, and they’ve overdone it?

  14. Too bad Facebook didn’t win it. I would like to have seen the Cleveland Browns with a status update that uses the sad face.

  15. Not sure how the commentators will do their job with only 140 characters. Also, Twitter now shows you on your time line how it wants, not with people you follow in chronological order. You may see the final score before you see the halftime score.

  16. Yay, now i can read the opinions of a bunch of 13 year olds scrolling across the bottom of the screen as i try to watch the game.

  17. Twitter? Seriously?

    Last night the NCAA championship game was on Cable TV. I don’t have cable because I refuse to pay $80 a month for 990 channels I wouldn’t watch and 10 that I would.

    The FBS Championship games were on BSPN. NFL is going the route of “pay to watch” too.

    I hate technology.

  18. Eleven years ago, there wasn’t even a Twitter. What will we be watching games on in 2027? Or will the NFL be gone by then?

  25. vikings2102 says:
    Apr 5, 2016 9:18 AM
    Not sure how the commentators will do their job with only 140 characters. Also, Twitter now shows you on your time line how it wants, not with people you follow in chronological order. You may see the final score before you see the halftime score.
    _____
    Facebook does that too. I thought I was seeing things or there was something wrong with my brand-new phone. Good to know it wasn’t just me.

    I have a TV, so I won’t be watching on Twitter. I won’t be watching at all if the games continue to be as awful as they have been. Monday and Thursday night games have, for the most part, become like ESPN’s Tuesday and Wednesday night college games – games from the MAC that absolutely no one cares about except alumni and families of current players.

  26. This is the only PLUS!

    “In a statement released Tuesday, the NFL says the streams will be free, and won’t require viewers to authenticate through a cable subscription to watch.”

    BTW, there needs to be a cable company simlar to TING mobile where you ONLY pay for what you use. Nobody should be paying $100/month to watch a few channels.

  27. Too bad Facebook didn’t get it. Every commercial break would feature Zuckerberg saying “accept the refugees or you are racist” while he locks himself in his palatial 50 acre mansion estate.

  28. people don’t tune in to the crappy Thursday games on tv, why would they on Twitter?

  29. So basically I can refuse to watch color splash games on my phone in addition to refusing to watch color splash games on my TV.

  30. Guys, it’s going to be fine. You don’t have to watch it on Twitter.

    I, however, CAN now watch awful games between teams wearing even more awful uniforms with this because as somebody under 40, the idea of paying for a cable subscription that includes the NFL Network is even more ridiculous than having a land line.

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