Coming to a streaming device near you in 2017: Live football on Amazon.
The NFL reached an agreement with the retailer to provide the rights to 10 Thursday Night Football games to be streamed to Amazon Prime customers next season according to multiple reports.
The New York Times reported that the deal was for roughly $50 million, five times the amount Twitter paid for the streaming rights to Thursday night games last season.
The games will still be produced by either CBS or NBC, depending on the game, and games will still be shown on NFL Network as well.
For Amazon, adding live sports to its Prime video lineup represents a rare get that the retailer was previously missing. As many as 60 million households use Amazon Prime, which costs $99 per year.
The NFL gets a lucrative deal, but also takes a step in a delicate balancing act for the league, which still makes most of its money off network television deals.
Cord-cutters will have a new way to watch games but, if the NFL continues to make more similar options available, it could contribute to already-falling prime time ratings.
• Nora Princiotti can be reached at nprinciotti@washingtontimes.com.
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