The NFL is exercising an out in the contract wth DirecTV, which pays $1.5B per year for Sunday TicketGETTY IMAGES
Disney during its Q2 earning call yesterday revealed it has looked into buying NFL Sunday Ticket for ESPN+. When asked if he would be interested in putting the league's out-of-market package on the streaming service, Disney Chair & CEO Bob Iger said, "There's been some exploration there. I'll just leave it at that." Such a move would be costly, as DirecTV pays $1.5B per year for exclusive access to Sunday Ticket. The NFL is exercising an out in the contract to shop it around and is believed to have some interest from streaming services like Amazon Prime Video. Iger's remark is the first time anybody at ESPN has acknowledged publicly that it could be interested in the package as a way to grow the OTT service (John Ourand, SBJ Media). AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Sean Keeley noted Google also has been reportedly interested in making a bid for YouTube, but going with either Amazon or Google "would be a bigger leap of faith for the NFL over working with Disney and ESPN, two behemoths they know understand how to put their product front and center." However, it is "not as though the NFL has shied away from streaming broadcasts in recent years, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility they’d consider a bolder strategy as well" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 5/8).
DON'T FORGET ABOUT US: FORBES' Kurt Badenhausen cited sources as saying that DAZN is "among the parties talking to the NFL about Sunday Ticket." DAZN Exec Chair John Skipper "won't comment on a potential NFL deal but reveals his hand when he talks about the future of sports media rights bids." Skipper: "There will be the existing partners and possibly tech companies, plus pure-play over-the-top. You will have at least one pure-play OTT at the table and that will be DAZN" (FORBES.com, 5/3).
