National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC that the NFL will select a new NFL Sunday Ticket partner by the fall. Apple, Amazon, and Disney have all placed bids to be the NFL’s new exclusive streaming provider for Sunday Ticket, CNBC reported last month.
CNBC:
The National Football League plans to select a streaming service as its new Sunday Ticket partner and will choose a winner by the fall, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday.
“I clearly believe we’ll be moving to a streaming service,” Goodell told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin in an exclusive interview at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley conference in Idaho. “I think that’s best for consumers at this stage.”
Sunday Ticket is the only way fans can watch live NFL Sunday afternoon games outside of what’s broadcast in their local markets on CBS and FOX. DirecTV paid $1.5 billion for annual rights. The NFL now wants more than $2 billion a year, CNBC reported. Contractual language with CBS and Fox would prevent any streaming service from charging fans significantly less than the current $300 cost for Sunday Ticket.
Goodell noted that many people who watch games on a streaming service don’t subscribe to traditional pay TV, allowing the league to capture a wider audience by moving Sunday Ticket to a digital provider.
“We really believe these new platforms give us an ability to innovate where we are today,” said Goodell. “It obviously makes it more available to our consumers, particularly the younger demographic, which is one that we really want to get to. I think this will make it more accessible for fans. I think it will be a better experience for fans.”
MacDailyNews Take: MLB Friday Night Baseball and the entire MLS are nice, but if Apple is really serious about live sports, and they clearly seem to be, a significant NFL deal is an absolute must.
See also: Apple is going hard after live sports rights; NFL is next – analyst – June 15, 2022
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