Report: YouTube TV Emerges As Frontrunner For NFL Sunday Ticket

Google and its affiliated YouTube TV are emerging as the leading contenders to land the package of every NFL game, The Post has learned. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday.

Neither the NFL nor YouTube TV had comment, according to The NY Post.

Apple was for a long stretch considered the frontrunner to land the package, but talks between Apple and the NFL broke down last week.

A potential issue for subscribers is that YouTube TV does not have many RSNs, which makes it difficult to watch local sports, like baseball, basketball and hockey. For example, if the NFL is going to require fans to get YouTube TV, they will be forced to add a service that presently does not have the YES Network, which is the home to the Yankees or MSG for the Knicks and the local NHL teams. 

Amazon, which this year began streaming the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package on Prime Video, has been viewed as the other finalist for Sunday Ticket. Disney/ESPN had also previously been in talks with the league to carry Sunday Ticket on the ESPN+ streaming platform.

The Sunday Ticket package had been part of DirecTV since its inception in 1994. DirecTV has paid the NFL $1.5 billion per year. 

The Wall Street Journal reports  a potential move of Sunday Ticket to YouTube is further evidence of major sports migrating from traditional TV, which has been hit by cord-cutting, to streaming, and tech companies that are willing to spend heavily on content. 

The addition of Sunday Ticket would provide a boost to YouTube’s streaming efforts as the video platform attempts to broaden beyond advertising sales into subscription revenue. YouTube’s advertising business declined on a yearly basis for the first time in the third quarter, following a streak of rapid growth during the pandemic.