Facebook set to bid for NFL ‘Thursday Night Football’ rights – report

Social media website Facebook is set to bid for the online streaming rights to the NFL American football league’s Thursday Night Football package, according to Variety.

Internet companies Amazon and Verizon are also interested in the rights, which would cover the 2016-17 season, the report added.

Rival internet companies Google and Apple do not appear to be interested at this stage, although the league is still collecting bids for the streaming rights.

Facebook and the NFL have declined to comment on the report.

Facebook, which estimates that 650 million of its users worldwide are sports fans, recently launched a Facebook Stadium service.

Read our article about the introduction of Facebook Stadium in the March issue of SportBusiness International by clicking here.