Could the Arizona Cardinals stream on Twitter in 2016?
By Erich Becker
Could the Arizona Cardinals be featured streaming on Twitter in 2016?
The NFL announced today that Twitter has been awarded the rights as to stream 10 of the league’s Thursday Night Football games next season, of which the Arizona Cardinals could be featured in. In the previous two seasons the team has been featured in a Thursday match-up with various teams, usually a home game, but without the 2016 schedule (set to be released later this month) it is impossible to know at this time.
What does this mean for the league in general?
Last year’s experiment in streaming a game from London on Yahoo! was just a small step in allowing those without cable, or over the air antennas, or even TVs the ability to stream an NFL game. Granted, the experiment featured the mediocre Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars in a game that started at 6AM on the West Coast, but it opened up a few eyes and doors.
Twitter beat out Verizon and Amazon for the deal according to most reports, Facebook reportedly dropped out of bidding last week.
As the market for streaming media grows and consumption is no longer tied to just a TV, the NFL, and many sports, have to get on-board with a new kind of consumer. Major League Baseball is one of the fore-bearers of new technology with the league’s MLB.tv service seen as the pinnacle of mobile sports presentation.
The deal is reportedly worth between $10-$15 million dollars and will cover a majority of the season. Without a current schedule it is impossible to tell which teams will be featured, but with so much emphasis being place on this deal by the league, you have to hope for better games than we got last year.
The world is changing, the NFL is finding this out in a way that they never thought possible, utilizing a new media platform after TV, newspapers and even websites. Will Twitter be the best way to consume this media? Only time will tell.