Yahoo paid $20 million to stream an NFL game for free

Yahoo will stream Week 7's NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars for free online, the NFL announced on Wednesday.

It's the first time the league has sold broadcasting rights to a company for online-only distribution.

Re/code's Peter Kafka reports that Yahoo paid $20 million for the game, which will be played in London and streamed live around the world for free at 9:30 a.m. eastern time. The games will be broadcast locally on TV, but will only be available nationally through Yahoo.

SI's Peter King reports that two other tech companies put in bids on the game but wanted to charge for it, so the NFL said no.

The league's TV rights deals will soon hit $7 billion in revenue a year, USA Today reported a year ago, and most run through 2022. When you break down the numbers, Brian Solomon of Forbes notes, the rights to broadcast the average NFL game on TV cost around $26 million.