Apologies in advance to Cleveland Browns fans, but NFL highlights are now on Facebook.
The social network just inked a deal to bring highlights from all 256 football games this season to its platform, plus the playoffs and Super Bowl. It’s not streaming entire games — like it’s deal with Major League Baseball for Friday games — but its a coup nonetheless.
Three shows will live on Facebook’s Watch, it’s recently launched streaming platform: “NFL Game Recaps,” “NFL Turning Point,” and “Sound FX.”
“We have millions of fans on Facebook, and they continue to demonstrate an incredible appetite for NFL content,” Hans Schroeder, Chief Operating Officer of NFL Media, said in a statement. “We’re excited to bring a compelling set of highlights and shows from the NFL and our Clubs to our fans on Facebook.”
The deal is another move towards pushing its content digitally for the NFL; Amazon struck a deal with the league for $50 million to broadcast Thursday night games on its Prime streaming service earlier this year — a $40 million jump from the same deal the NFL had with Twitter the year before.
The Facebook-NFL partnership also hints at an increased bidding war for sports rights in the years to follow. With the NBA season approaching, it wouldn’t be shocking to see one of the tech heavyweights announce a similar deal for highlights or streaming full games.