Twitter To Stream Thursday Night Football Games

(The Sports Xchange) - Twitter outbid heavy competition to gain the exclusive handle on streaming rights for NFL Thursday Night Football in 2016.

The deal is worth an estimated $10 million for 10 games according to multiple reports.

"Twitter is where live events unfold and is the right partner for the NFL as we take the latest step in serving fans around the world live NFL football," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "There is a massive amount of NFL-related conversation happening on Twitter during our games and tapping into that audience, in addition to our viewers on broadcast and cable, will ensure Thursday Night Football is seen on an unprecedented number of platforms this season. This agreement also provides additional reach for those brands advertising with our broadcast partners."

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The rights package also includes in-game highlights of the Thursday games and pregame Periscope broadcasts from players and teams.

Goodell announced the partnership via Twitter early Tuesday.

"This fall Thursday Night Football will be streamed live @twitter so fans will see more of this," Goodell tweeted from his @nflcommish Twitter handle with a video embedded of various players – Drew Brees of the Saints, Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, Texans defensive end J.J. Watt and other -- running toward the field and out of the stadium tunnel before compilation of highlights from games played in 2015.

At the owner's meetings in Florida last week, Goodell said the league was working through considerable interest in the streaming package that will support over-the-air broadcasts shared by CBS and NBC and simulcast on NFL Network.

Yahoo, Amazon and Verizon were among bidders for the Thursday night digital rights. Verizon's deal with the NFL is expiring and was worth $250 million per year.