NFL, Twitter Extend Partnership In Multi-Year Deal Involving Twitter Spaces

The National Football League announced Thursday it's extending its partnership with Twitter Inc TWTR through a multi-year deal.

What Happened: The deal includes “expanded engagement formats” and the production of “exclusive content” through Twitter’s live audio offering, Twitter Spaces.

Why It’s Important: The NFL and Twitter announced their first partnership in 2013, in which the NFL began leveraging Twitter’s “unique features” to develop live programming and distribute on-demand content to a “highly engaged audience.”
The latest partnership extension aims to further leverage Twitter’s offerings to bring fans even closer to the NFL games and tentpole events such as the NFL Draft and Kickoff. The press release lists three methods through which it intends to increase weekly fan engagement:

• New highlight offerings featuring the best touchdowns, highlights, and Tweets
• Expanded NFL Twitter votes allowing fans to vote on NFL’s hot topics and takes
• Providing fans the best moments by bringing on-field coverage and highlights from every game— including touchdowns, leaping catches, incredible runs, and celebrations— to the NFL Twittersphere

More than 20 Spaces are planned for the upcoming season, making the NFL the first sports organization to partner with Twitter to offer sponsored Spaces. These spaces will be available throughout the NFL season and will include discussion on matchups and insights from current NFL players and other NFL talent.