With Major League Baseball’s season shortened to just 60 games this year, Amazon won’t be broadcasting any New York Yankees games this season, Bloomberg reported.
Amazon was slated to stream 21 Yankees games beginning April 17th with several high-profile games —including three against the Boston Red Sox— on the list. Amazon Prime members in New York state, northeast Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and central New Jersey would have been able to stream all 21 games.
But the Yankees’ YES Network has opted to keep those games for its channel, and MLB rules limit streaming games that are shown on regional sports networks like YES.
“Given the unique circumstances surrounding this season, YES Network will televise all New York Yankees games not airing on the national networks,” Amazon said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We’ll evaluate our plans at the conclusion of this season.”
Amazon became part-owner in YES last August after Disney sold its 80 percent stake. The deal was split among several parties, including the Yankees, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Amazon, and RedBird Capital.
The Yankees games would have added to Amazon’s sports streaming mix; it already streams Thursday Night Football, and has struck deals to show Premier League matches in the UK and UEFA Champions League tournament matches in Germany.
The Yankees beat the Washington Nationals 4-1 on Thursday in the MLB season opener, in a game that ESPN said drew 4 million viewers.
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