How to reference Typescript module within nuxt.config

For dynamic route generation using Nuxt 2

nuxt.config

const { pairwiseTeams } = require('~/helpers/NFL/teams');

export default {
  mode: 'universal',
  ...
  generate: {
    async routes() {
      return teamMatchups = pairwiseTeams.map(([teamA, teamB]) => `/nfl/matchups/${teamA}-${teamB}`);
    },
  },

helpers/NFL/teams.ts

export const pairwiseTeams = [['ARI', 'ATL'], ...]

Running nuxt yields Cannot find module '~/helpers/NFL/teams'

tsconfig.json does include

    "paths": {
      "~/*": ["./*"],
      "@/*": ["./*"]
    },