Major League Baseball and Facebook are reportedly engaged in discussions that could lead to a weekly live stream of games.
Reuters first reported on Tuesday that MLB and Facebook could come to an agreement that would allow one live stream of a game per week, starting with the 2017 season. Neither entity has announced a deal yet, but the collaboration would make Facebook the latest social network to come to begin airing live streams of games from a major American sports league.
The NFL and Twitter struck a similar deal before the 2016 season, providing the platform with a select number of games. Though more details should be made available if a deal is finalized, some already see where MLB and Facebook could be a natural fit for each other. More from Reuters:
“Facebook is aggressively going after sports content and they are now one of a number of competitors to traditional media outlets that are going after sports programming,” said sports media consultant Lee Berke. “It makes perfect sense that they would be going after name brand properties like the MLB.”
The companies were in advanced talks, according to one source. It was unclear which games MLB would live stream on Facebook. A representative for Facebook and MLB declined to comment.
By partnering with Facebook, MLB would get access to a young audience at a massive scale, consultants said.
Last year, the partnership between the NFL and Twitter allowed the social platform to live stream 10 games from the league’s Thursday Night Football series. Mobile devices and computers offered the games, as did Twitter apps through Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and Xbox One.
Facebook has made similar pursuits when it comes to streaming live sporting events. As part of a deal with Univision, Facebook will provide a live stream of English-language broadcasts of 46 Liga MX matches this season.