Yankees Rumors: 21 Games to Be Exclusively Streamed on Amazon Prime Video

The New York Yankees have struck a deal with Amazon Prime Video for the streaming service to air 21 games live, according to the New York Post's Andrew Marchand. 

Amazon Prime Video will be the exclusive broadcaster for those games, which won't be carried on YES Network in local markets.

The move is likely to be unpopular among followers of the Bronx Bombers as it adds another barrier to being able to catch all of the team's games this season.

Marchand added that the Amazon Prime Video package "will be only available in the Yankees' local footprint" but couldn't confirm whether that extends to blacking out games for out-of-market fans on MLB's streaming service:

The Hollywood Reporter's Georg Szalai and Alex Weprin reported in 2019 that Amazon was claiming a 15 percent ownership stake in YES through a deal with the Yankees. Marchand alluded to how shifting Yankees games to Amazon Prime Video was an inevitability once that partnership was formalized.

This is part of a wider trend for MLB as the league segmented its national broadcasts further for the upcoming season.

MLB partnered with Apple to launch Friday Night Baseball, a doubleheader that will be exclusive to Apple TV+. The Wall Street Journal's Lillian Rizzo and Jared Diamond also reported March 11 that MLB and NBCUniversal were nearing an agreement to stream a select number of Sunday games exclusively on Peacock.

This means more revenue across the board, albeit at a cost of potentially alienating fans at a time when baseball's popularity isn't at its apex.

Some will question why this is necessary for the Yankees when the team is in a healthy place financially. Forbes values the franchise at an MLB-high $6 billion, a 14 percent rise over the past year.