Google-owned YouTube has signed a multi-year deal to exclusively stream the National Football League’s Sunday Ticket package of games in the United States, the video service said, as more content moves to streaming from traditional TV.
YouTube will pay an average price of about $2 billion a year to secure rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket franchise, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Google and the NFL did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Starting next season, NFL Sunday Ticket will be available as an add-on package on YouTube TV and standalone a-la-carte on YouTube Primetime Channels, the company said on Thursday.
DirecTV, the largest satellite provider in the United States and which is 70% owned by AT&T Inc, had the rights to Sunday Ticket until the end of the 2022 season.
“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.”
Sports has remained one of the biggest and most reliable attractions for live viewing, even as U.S. audiences are cutting their pay TV subscriptions and migrating to streaming services.
Sports distribution rights are increasingly a draw for deep-pocketed tech companies seeking to grow streaming audiences.
