The National Football League and Verizon Wireless have
renewed their agreement that will keep the carrier as the league's official
wireless provider, with expanded mobile rights that will allow Verizon to
stream every game to mobile, including all playoffs and the Super Bowl.
The new deal begins in 2014 and will be expanded to include
access to Sunday afternoon games, as well as all playoff games and the Super
Bowl, on Fox and CBS within customers' home markets.
Previously, Verizon customers only had access to the three
weekly nationally televised games on Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights. The
league's new rights agreements with its holders begin in 2014, and will include
for the first time the ability for games to be moved from Fox to CBS and vice
versa. For 2013, the league says Verizon will launch an updated version of its NFL Mobileapp.
The deal makes Verizon one of the NFL's biggest
business partners outside of its media-rights holders. Terms of the deal were
not disclosed, but Sports
Business Journal is reporting it is $1 billion over four years, with
Verizon paying out $210 million for the first year, a substantial increase over
the $50 million the carrier currently pays out yearly.
