YouTube TV lands Sunday Ticket with deal between Google, NFL

YouTube TV lands Sunday Ticket with deal between Google, NFL originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

NFL Sunday Ticket has found a new home.

YouTube TV now has the rights to the subscription package after Google struck a multiyear deal with the league. The deal is worth about $2 billion annually, CNBC reports, and begins in 2023.

 “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 on Thursday. “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.”

DirecTV held Sunday Ticket rights dating back to 1994. The company paid $1.5 each year for the service since its last renewal with the league in 2014 and its contract expires at the end of the 2022 season.

Goodell said in July that the league planned to move Sunday Ticket to a streaming service in its next deal, which he anticipated would be announced in the fall. 

“I clearly believe we’ll be moving to a streaming service,” Goodell told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin in an exclusive interview. “I think that’s best for consumers at this stage.”

Apple, Disney and Amazon, which now owns the rights to Thursday Night Football, all submitted bids to become the new Sunday Ticket provider, CNBC reported in July. 

Sunday Ticket offers football fans a chance to watch Sunday afternoon NFL games outside of their local market that are broadcast on CBS and FOX. The package will be available as an add-on package on YouTube TV and standalone, a-la-carte on YouTube Primetime Channels, per the NFL.