Facebook will live stream over a dozen college football games this year

Facebook wants you to watch more video on its site – including those you can’t see elsewhere. To that end, the social network earlier this month launched a dedicated section for original video, called Watch. Now that’s being expanded with the addition of live-streamed college football games, broadcast in partnership with sports network Stadium.

The deal will bring 15 live college football games to Facebook, including nine Conference USA games and six Mountain West games.

These games will be exclusively broadcast on Facebook, the company says, and will be available on the Stadium: Live College Football Show Page to users worldwide, as well as on Watch for U.S. users.

Unlike games aired on traditional television, the games broadcast on Facebook will take advantage of the digital platform to introduce a number of interactive elements as part of the viewing experience. For example, they will include a live, curated chat from football personalities alongside the on-air presentation. Plus, a social team and other correspondents will work to engage the at-home audience in conversation.

Facebook is not the only major tech company trying to score deals that will bring streaming sports to their platforms. Twitter has filled out its live streaming roster with a variety of sports broadcasts, including those from Pac-12 Networks, the WNBA, the NBAthe MLB, the NHL and, last season, the NFL for its Thursday night games, among others.

But, this time around, Amazon won the NFL deal for Thursday Night Games.

Facebook, meanwhile, this year partnered with Fox for rights to stream Champions League soccer, and with the MLB to live stream regular season games.

The college football games will kick off on Saturday, September 2nd with Miami Ohio at Marshall and UC Davis at San Diego State.

The full schedule is below:

  • Saturday, Sept. 2: Miami (OH) at Marshall, 6:30 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Sept. 2: UC Davis at San Diego State, 8:30 p.m. ET
  • Thursday, Sept. 7: Idaho State at Utah State, 8:00 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Sept. 9: New Mexico State at New Mexico, 8:00 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Sept. 23: FIU at Rice, 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Sept. 23: Utah State at San Jose State, 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Sept. 30: Texas State at Wyoming, 4:00 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Oct. 7: Southern Miss at UTSA, 7:00 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Oct. 14: Wyoming at Utah State, 4:30 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Oct. 21: Rice at UTSA, 7:00 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Oct. 28: FIU at Marshall, 2:30 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Nov. 4: North Texas at Louisiana Tech, 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Nov. 11: Southern Miss at Rice, 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Nov. 18: Marshall at UTSA, 7:00 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, Nov. 25: FAU at Charlotte, 2:00 p.m. ET

Facebook will not disclose how much it paid for the exclusive rights to stream these games, but is “investing in the content,” according to a Facebook spokesperson. While the larger plan with the new “Watch” section is to generate revenue through video advertisements on partner videos, these college football games will not have ads when they launch, we’re told.