NFL fans have called out the league for a playoff game being aired exclusively on a streaming platform.
The Wild Card matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens will not be available for a national television audience on a major network.
Superstar Lamar Jackson and the Ravens won the AFC North title with 11 wins as the rival Steelers finished as a wild-card team[/caption]
This weekend, NFL fans will get to watch the playoffs on the various networks which include ESPN, CBS, NBC, and Fox.
However, those same fans won’t have that same fortune for this weekend’s Steelers-Ravens game.
The matchup between the No. 3 seeded Ravens and No. 6 seeded Steelers can be watched only on Prime Video, Amazon’s streaming service, on Saturday at 8:00 pm Eastern.
Prime Video is the home of Thursday Night Football for the NFL.
The limited viewing option can only be accessed with an Amazon Prime subscription which is $15 monthly or $139 annually.
NFL fans went on social media to rant about the playoff game being only available through a paywall.
“Way to ruin a playoff rivalry game by hiding it on Prime,” one commented.
“Ravens Steelers on Amazon Prime is a complete joke and is disrespectful to the great history of the rivalry. NFL hates the classics. F*** money hungry Goddell,” another wrote.
“Thanks @NFL. By once again having a playoff game behind a paywall, it confirms just how little you care about your fans,” a third said.
The Steelers-Ravens contest will air locally for fans in the Baltimore and Pittsburgh areas.
This isn’t the first NFL playoff game to be broadcast as a streaming-only choice.
Last season, the Miami Dolphins-Kansas City Chiefs Saturday NFL playoff game was available only on NBC’s streaming service Peacock.
Fans were also irate with the decision.
Still, the game was a success for the NFL and NBC as the game was the largest live-streamed event in US history with more than 23 million people tuned in to Peacock for the matchup.
This season, the late-Christmas Day matchup between the Ravens and Houston Texans made history.
The Netflix broadcast averaged 24.3 million viewers.
It’s the most streamed game in NFL history.
Viewership peaked at the halftime show, which was performed by Beyonce, with over 27 million viewers.
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson walks off the field after the team’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day[/caption]
