Skip to main content

NFL won't stream London games after reaching Twitter deal

NFL won't stream London games after reaching Twitter deal

Share this story

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The National Football League has opted not to stream three London games scheduled for its upcoming season, according to Reuters. Instead, the NFL says it will focus on a recently announced partnership with Twitter, which will be home to 10 Thursday Night Football games. (You'll be able to watch them on TV, too, just as always.) Back in January, Reuters reported that the NFL was in talks with both Apple and Google about streaming the three in-season London games. Yahoo was the NFL's chosen partner for last season's first-ever London streaming experiment, which was reportedly deemed a "success" by league officials and drew about 15.2 million viewers. That's far smaller than your typical US viewership for football, but the goal was more about getting the NFL in front of an international audience.

Still, after making big news with the Twitter pact, the NFL now seems less interested in giving these London games a global audience. "When we discussed potential streaming packages with interested parties, there were many options on the table, including the London games," an NFL spokesperson told Reuters. "Ultimately the package we agreed on with Twitter involved ten of our Thursday night games which we felt was the best option at that point."

That's probably not a major bummer for US viewers; they can just catch the highlights on SportsCenter. As for the one-time London hopefuls, Apple was reportedly also considering a bid on the Thursday Night Football package, but ultimately decided against entering the fray. Google, per Re/code's Peter Kafka, never gave that deal a serious look at all. If you're curious are about exactly which games are happening in London, here you go:

October 2nd / Week 4: Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis Colts at Wembley Stadium
October 23rd / Week 7: Los Angeles Rams vs. New York Giants at Twickhenham Stadium
October 30th / Week 8: Cincinnati Bengals vs. Washington Redskins at Wembley Stadium