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Amazon Wins Bid To NFL For Thursday Night Football, Paying $50 Million

By Cody Williams

Oct 27, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) on the set of NFL Thursday Night Football with teammate Titans running back DeMarco Murray (29) following the game at Nissan Stadium. Tennessee won 36-22. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 27, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) on the set of NFL Thursday Night Football with teammate Titans running back DeMarco Murray (29) following the game at Nissan Stadium. Tennessee won 36-22. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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Twitter will no longer be streaming the NFL on Thursday Night Football as Amazon has won the rights to air the games

Thursday Night Football has been an interesting venture for the NFL. Part of that is due to the Color Rush uniforms, while part of it is due to the fact that the games are quite often sloppy. It’s frankly just been a mixed bag from the NFL, but it clearly is still valuable to companies vying for the right to stream the games. Just ask Amazon.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon has won the bid to stream Thursday Night Football for the 2017 NFL season, paying a reported $50 million. What’s interesting is that Amazon’s bid far exceeds what Twitter paid in the 2016 season for the rights to stream select games.

According to the report, Twitter won the bid one year ago by paying $10 million to stream 10 of the Thursday Night Football matchups throughout the season. That’s a price increase of $40 million that Amazon is paying for the rights to take over the stream for, again, only 10 games.

Streaming for these games will be available for Amazon Prime members, which is an obvious move if you’ve ever dealt with the online marketplace/streaming service/conglomerate at all. Of course, the games will also still be aired on CBS and NBC throughout the year, depending on the week.

Amazon is actually a pretty sensible choice for airing Thursday Night Football. Not only do they have a vast reach, but they also air the All or Nothing series that chronicles a season with a certain team behind-the-scenes. The Arizona Cardinals were the focus of season 1, while the Los Angeles Rams have been chosen for season 2.

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While the price has gone up tremendously, this could very well be worth it for Amazon. They’ve poured a ton of money into movies, television and streaming in recent years. As such, this is a way to get more eyes on their service. Thus, it should work well for all involved.

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