Business

NFL nearing rights deal with Google’s YouTube TV for Sunday Ticket game package

In this article

New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry (85) celebrates his touchdown run against the Cleveland Browns during the third quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium, Oct. 16, 2022.
Scott Galvin | USA Today Sports | Reuters

The National Football League is finalizing a deal for the rights to its subscription-only package of games known as Sunday Ticket with Google’s YouTube TV, according to people familiar with the matter.

The league has been in negotiations for months for the rights to the package, long held by DirecTV, with the aim of inking an agreement with a streaming service to broaden the NFL’s reach and partnership.

The deal, however, will not include a stake in NFL Media, which includes the linear cable channels NFL Network and RedZone, which the league has been shopping alongside the Sunday Ticket rights, one of the people said. The sources asked not to be named because discussions are ongoing.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell previously said while the NFL was packaging the minority stake with Sunday Ticket, it could decide to sell each property separately.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the status of the Sunday Ticket talks earlier. An NFL spokesperson declined to comment, and Google didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Terms of the deal were still being ironed out Tuesday, the people said. DirecTV has been paying $1.5 billion annually since 2015. The NFL has been seeking a buyer for Sunday Ticket willing to pay between $2 billion and $3 billion.

Goodell said earlier that the league aimed to announce a rights deal with Sunday Ticket by the end of the fall. The Sunday Ticket package has been the NFL’s only set of media rights that has yet to be renewed through 2030.

The deal with YouTube TV comes after various media operators, including Amazon, Apple and Disney’s ESPN, considered the rights to the property.

The NFL was in close talks with Apple until recently, the people said. However, existing restrictions around Sunday Ticket had slowed negotiations with Apple in recent months, CNBC previously reported.

The league has been looking to diversify its partnerships with media companies and have a bigger presence in streaming.

WATCH: I believe NFL media rights will be moving to streaming

Products You May Like

Articles You May Like

Why Raising Retirement Age For Social Security Means Cutting Benefits
Mumbai overtakes Beijing to become Asia’s billionaire capital for the first time
‘Glitch’ at Ethiopia’s biggest bank sees customers withdraw millions that isn’t theirs
Crypto is ‘like cayenne pepper’ for investors, money manager says: ‘A little goes a long way’
The UK is regulating memes about crypto and other investments to curb scams from ‘finfluencers’

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *