Fans of Major League Baseball have cause to be excited. Facebook reportedly has paid $30 million to obtain the rights for 25 MLB games this season.
Last year, Facebook struck a deal with the MLB to stream games last season, but the deal was non-exclusive. This year's deal gives them exclusive rights to the games, much like Amazon and Twitter get exclusive rights to Thursday Night NFL games.
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Each of the 25 games will be weekday games, the first of which takes place on April 4, when the Philadelphia Phillies take on the New York Mets.
It was reported by Engadget back in December that Facebook may spend billions in the sports market. Last year, Facebook made a $600 million bid for Indian cricket games, but Fox won the deal. In January, Facebook hired the former CEO of Eurosport, Peter Hutton, to head their negotiations for sports streaming. This move for 25 MLB games could be just the start.
Other streaming services have made moves to acquire rights to Major League Baseball games ahead of the 2018 season start on April 1. YouTube TV added baseball to its lineup and was even a sponsor for the World Series.
What do you think of the new Facebook deal? Is it a good move for Major League Baseball?
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