The National Football League and YouTube said Thursday they have reached a seven-year deal for YouTube to air the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription service for out-of-town games.
Starting in the 2023 season, NFL Sunday Ticket will be available on two of YouTube’s subscription businesses as an add-on package on YouTube TV and standalone a-la-carte on YouTube Primetime Channels, the league and YouTube said.
The deal was anticipated in recent days after Apple dropped out of the running for the programming, which has aired since its inception in 1994 on DirectTV satellite service. The DirectTV deal expires this season.
With just 13.3 million subscribers, DirectTV’s reach is far narrower than YouTube’s, meaning the deal has the potential to expand the subscription service’s reach to a much wider, potentially global audience.
The NFL and YouTube did not say how much the streaming service bid for the deal, but Bloomberg on Wednesday put the price tag around $2.5 billion annually for the seven-year deal, with the Wall Street Journal reporting “roughly” $2 billion per year.
“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 in a statement. “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.”
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki noted that YouTube has long aired football.
The NFL’s 32 clubs each have their own channels, and the league has 10 official channels including NFL Network, NFL Films and its Hispanic channel, Mundo NFL, the first of which launched in 2015. The NFL Network and NFL RedZone have been available to YouTube TV subscribers since 2020.
The NFL YouTube channel has more than 10 million subscribers.
“We’re excited to continue our work with the NFL to make YouTube a great place for sports lovers everywhere,” Wojcicki said.
The deal calls for updated product features and functionality that will be announced ahead of the 2023 NFL season. The companies said they will work to find additional ways to support distribution of the service in commercial establishments such as bars and restaurants. Amazon has a deal this season with DirectTV so that Thursday games are available in such venues.
The pact brings a second NFL package to a streaming service, after Amazon inked a deal for Thursday Night Football this season. The debut in September saw 13 million viewers sign on to watch.
The NFL also started its own streaming service in June, with NFL+, a subscription service that also offers access to live games.
“As the ways fans enjoy NFL football evolve in a changing media landscape, partnerships with innovators like YouTube will ensure that more games are available to more fans, said Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and chairman of the NFL’s Media Committee, in a statement. “This partnership will grow our game for future generations and allow them to follow their favorite sport.”
The pact also includes what they called “exclusive access to official content and attendance opportunities for select YouTube creators” at key NFL events like its kickoff to training camp, called “Back Together Saturday,” which YouTube already presenting sponsor for, along with NFL Kickoff Weekend.
