Two months after the NFL’s first game on Amazon Prime kicked off, the league is said to be in advanced talks with YouTube for rights to its coveted Sunday Ticket package which allows fans to watch nearly all the games that air on Sunday. The Wall Street Journal reported the deal could be finalized as soon as tomorrow, after a meeting of NFL owners, who vote on such agreements.
Amazon paid a reported $1 billion for Thursday night games earlier this year. DirecTV currently pays $1.5 billion annually for the rights to Sunday Ticket, according to WSJ. Any new deal would certainly be higher given the league’s ongoing popularity.
While the Amazon deal was made for the rights to the league’s lesser Thursday night matchups, the looming pact would be for what’s arguably the league’s most important day. It’s certainly the day when there are the most games on offer.
Last year, Apple had been seen as a potential front-runner to land digital rights to NFL Sunday Ticket.
Under decade-long rights renewals completed in 2021, every media partner will be looking to integrate more and more streaming into the overall mix, with streaming exclusives planned down the line on ESPN+, Paramount+ and Peacock. Still, the idea of a weekly timeslot only being available online — particularly given the large number of “out of home” sites like bars and restaurants looking to offer games — has prompted a lot of scrutiny around how fans will be guided from linear to streaming.
“These new platforms,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC during a visit to the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, “give us an ability to innovate beyond where we are today, and make the experience for consumers so much better.”
Dade Hayes contributed to this report.