NFL fans have been able to catch every out-of-market game the league offers for more than two decades now with DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket package, but it is possible that arrangement may have an expiration date of two more seasons.
Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic reports that the NFL is at a “standstill” in negotiations with AT&T — which purchased DirecTV in 2015 — over the future of NFL Sunday Ticket. The current contract is set to expire following the 2020 season, and the two sides are trying to figure out if a new deal makes sense. One NFL source familiar with the negotiations believes AT&T overpaid when purchasing DirecTV and now lacks a real strategy.
“The NFL is going to be in a good position,” the source told Kaplan. “I mean, I don’t mean that to sound obnoxious. But I mean, they’re gonna pay us a lot of money, or there are others with different business models lined up to pay us different money for different versions of it. So right … I think the NFL will be fine. I think AT&T is paralyzed.”
DirecTV has exclusive rights to out-of-market NFL content under the current agreement, but the league wants to split the rights between DirecTV and a cable network or streaming medium. Companies like DAZN, ESPN+ and Comcast are believed to have interest in buying non-exclusive rights to games.
DirecTV has lost 350,000 customers in the past two quarters, and giving up the exclusive rights to NFL content would undoubtedly cost them tens of thousands more. However, BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield estimates a company would need to pay at least $2 billion for the exclusive rights, and AT&T may not be willing to do that.
All professional sports leagues have been exploring ways to expand viewership using more modern mediums like streaming platforms, and more competition for NFL viewing rights may result in the price becoming too steep for DirecTV.
