Superbowl to be Streamed Online for First Time

NFL’s showpiece, the Super Bowl will be streamed online for the first time in broadcast history.

The NFL and NBC announced that the network’s broadcasts of two wild card games, the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl will stream on the NFL’s website, NBC Sports’ site and select mobile phones.

Viewers will be able tune in on their laptops, their tablets and even on their mobile phones — if they have Verizon — for Super Bowl XLVI, which takes place Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.

Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s Senior Vice President of Media Strategy and Development, said in a statement: “We are pleased to work with our partners NBC and Verizon to bring our fans more ways to watch their favorite sport during their favorite time of the year.”

While one has long been able to search for illegal streams of such games online, “NBC Postseason Extra” is the first time the league and a broadcast network are sanctioning online viewing for a game of this magnitude. NBC already streams “Sunday Night Football” online and on Verizon phones.

Last year’s Super Bowl, in which the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25, set a new record with 111 million viewers. It remains the most-watched TV broadcast in U.S. history.

While NBC holds the rights to this year’s game, the Super Bowl currently rotates between CBS, NBC and Fox.