Yahoo Bets on NFL to Win Audience

Overcoming the odds, Yahoo and National Football League team up to enable sports fans around the globe watch live NFL matches on the Internet

Announced on September 8, Yahoo's global reach and promotional strength will help the NFL deliver football game broadcasts to millions of sports fans outside the U.S.

For the first time, fans in Asia, Europe, South America, Australia and Africa will be able to watch live NFL games on the Internet. A service called NFL Game Pass powered by Yahoo! Sportstv will enable foreign sports fans to see nearly every NFL game in its entirey for the full season. For more details see www.nfl.com/nflgamepass.

The new online subscription service costs US$24.99 per week or $249 for the full season. Each game is archived for viewing for up to 24 hours.

A leading global brand and the world's leading advertiser, Yahoo has an audience of more than 500 million visitors each month. Yahoo maintains 38 country-specific sites around the world.

Eight sites can be found in North America with separate ones for English and French in Canada, and Chinese and Spanish in the U.S. The Asia-Pacific region has sites in 14 countries, including highly populated nations like China, India and Indonesia. Asia also has an English language site. Fifteen European countries have their own Yahoo sites.

Analysts say that global online sports betting will accelerate should the audience for NFL games expand via the Web.