Cord-cutters rejoice! There's at least one NFL game you'll be able to watch for free this year.
Verizon paid $21 million to broadcast the Sept. 24 game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens at Wembley Stadium in London.
That's a pretty hefty cost for a game that's not exactly a marquee matchup. Neither team was very good last year and NFL games held in England are notoriously lackluster.
But what the game lacks in excitement it makes up for with exclusivity. Unless you live near one of the teams, you can only get the game through Verizon's properties or an NFL app. And since NFL London games start early, it'll be the only game to watch.
The NFL has been diversifying where you can find its games, offering some of them on Twitter, Amazon Prime and Yahoo. Those companies paid a lot less per game, but they had to compete with TV broadcasts of the same matchup.
Yahoo bought rights to a game for $15 million, while Twitter and Amazon shelled out $10 million and $50 million, respectively, to air 10 Thursday night games on their sites.
The partnership makes sense as NFL and Verizon already have a cozy relationship. Verizon owns the rights to stream every NFL game on mobile devices.
You'll be able to stream the game on the official NFL app and Verizon's properties, including Complex, AOL and Go90.
