Amazon Prime Video to Exclusively Stream 21 Yankees Games
With Major League Baseball signing deals with streaming services left and right, and regional sports networks working towards the launch of their own direct-to-consumer service, it is clear that baseball sees streaming as the future of the sport.
Now the game’s most storied franchise is increasing its deal with Amazon Prime Video for the coming season. After regionally simulcasting 21 games during the 2021 season, the New York Yankees will now broadcast 21 games exclusively on the streaming service this coming year.
The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand is reporting that the Yankees will open their Prime Video slate on Friday, April 22 against the newly renamed Cleveland Guardians. The majority of the Yankees’ Prime Video streaming games will be on Fridays, in direct competition with Apple TV+’s new “Friday Night Baseball” package.
Unlike last season, these games will not be available on the YES Network or any other linear platform. They will also only be available to stream within the Yankees’ media market. The New York tri-state area includes New York state, Connecticut, northeast Pennsylvania, and north and central New Jersey. For fans outside of the Yankees’ market, the expectation is that they will still be able to stream the Prime Video games via MLB.TV.
While these Friday night Yankee games won’t be available nationwide, they will feature the team’s regular YES announcers, and will undoubtedly draw attention away from Apple TV+’s recently announced Friday night schedule. In addition to the 21 games on Amazon, the Yanks are also slated for two Apple games during the first 12 weeks of the season — Friday, April 29 vs. Kansas City and June 3 vs. Detroit. So NYY fans will need to get used to streaming games on Friday night if they want to start their weekends watching the Bronx Bombers.
In addition to the games on Prime Video and Apple TV+, the Yankees will certainly have nationally broadcast games on Peacock, ESPN, and TBS, while their local games can be found on YES. Currently, the only way to stream YES is with DIRECTV STREAM’s Choice Plan, which will cost $89.99 per month. As has been bemoaned by multiple media analysts, it is becoming increasingly expensive to be a baseball fan in the era of streaming.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Get $10 Off | Sign Up | |||
| $79.99 | $91.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| YES Network | + $29 | ✓ | - | - | - | - | - | |
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.