YouTube has secured the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket streaming package after Apple dropped out of negotiations with the NFL. Google and the NFL announced the deal today.
The National Football League today announced a multi-year agreement with Google granting YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels the right to exclusively distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to consumers in the United States starting with the 2023 NFL season. This strategic partnership will provide fans greater access to NFL Sunday Ticket while tapping into the best of YouTube’s technology and product innovation.
“We’re excited to bring NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels and usher in a new era of how fans across the United States watch and follow the NFL,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “For a number of years we have been focused on increased digital distribution of our games and this partnership is yet another example of us looking towards the future and building the next generation of NFL fans.”
The Wall Street Journal reports YouTube will pay roughly $2 billion a year to win the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket package as part of its YouTube TV service. The package will be offered as an add-on for the YouTube TV streaming service, which currently costs $64.99 per month. The exact price of the add-on package has not been announced.
Apple had long been rumored to be a frontrunner for the NFL Sunday Ticket package. However, existing restrictions around Sunday Ticket caused Apple to drop out of the race.
Restrictions on the NFL Sunday Ticket package deal would have included local blackouts and no global rights. Apple’s pricing plan for Sunday Ticket was also reportedly a sticking point. While Apple wanted to include Sunday Ticket access in the $6.99 cost of an Apple TV+ subscription, with no additional charges, the NFL pushed back on that low price point, saying it needed to “protect the interests” of CBS and Fox, its Sunday afternoon broadcast partners. The two networks will pay the NFL a combined $40 billion for the 2023 season.
