NFL Launches DTC Streaming Service as Sunday Ticket Change Looms

The NFL launched a subscription streaming service Monday geared largely to mobile devices. The $4.99 NFL+ service ($39 per year) includes access to live out-of-market preseason games, live local and prime-time regular season and postseason games (phone and tablet only), audio feeds for live local and national games, NFL Network shows on-demand and NFL Films archives.

The premium plan ($9.99 monthly, $79 per year), adds full and condensed game replays and the All-22 coaches film. The league calls NFL+ the next evolution of its direct-to-consumer offering, building on NFL Game Pass, which will no longer be offered in the U.S. Programming other than live games is ad-free.

In a statement, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said it’s important for the league to be able to reach and interact with fans “across multiple platforms.” The league plans to continue to grow NFL+ and "deepen its relationship with fans across all ages and demographics, providing them access to a tremendous amount of NFL content, including … live NFL games," he said.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Goodell said the NFL expects to have a decision by fall about which streaming service will be awarded rights for Sunday Ticket, the out-of-market live TV service currently only available via DirecTV. The $293.94 DirecTV package carries regular season regional Sunday afternoon games produced by Fox and CBS. A spokesperson emailed Monday that the rights winner would be announced by year-end and “could be sooner.”

Amazon, Apple and ESPN are reported to have made bids for the Sunday Ticket contract after DirecTV’s deal ends this season. Google also emerged Monday as a possible suitor with YouTube. “We continue to believe @AppleTVPlus is winning #SundayTicket rights,” tweeted Lightshed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield Sunday.

Sunday Ticket discussions have been going on for well over a year, Goodell told CNBC, citing the “valuable assets” at stake. “I clearly believe we’ll be moving to a streaming service: I think that’s best for the consumers at this stage.” He noted the innovation available via streaming “and how we’re going to be able to change the way people watch football.”

New platforms give the NFL “an ability to innovate beyond where we are today and make the experience for our consumers so much better,” Goodell said. A streaming option would also make football more accessible to a broader audience, “particularly the younger demographic, which is one we really want to get to.” On whether subscriptions similar to MLB’s individual team packages are being considered, the spokesperson said “all options are being considered” among “lots of ideas from the companies who are interested.”

NFL games have begun moving to streaming services in alignment with the networks that produce them: Peacock streams NBC games, CBS games are on Paramount+ and ESPN games on ESPN+. The league hasn’t lost linear viewership as a result, Goodell said: “We think they’re different users. We think the people who are watching on a streaming service aren’t watching on television, so it’s adding to our audience.”

Goodell noted Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football exclusive, beginning this year, is the first time in 35 years the NFL has changed the major carrier of programming in a package. Though Amazon had been the streaming source of Thursday night games, it shared coverage with Fox and NFL Network on the broadcast side.

Not everyone is happy about Amazon’s exclusive. A bar owner wrote to The TV Answer Man! in May, concerned over the quality of sports streaming on big-screen TVs. “Do you have to have Amazon to watch it?” wrote Todd from Kansas City. “Streaming doesn’t work well in my bar. It’s constantly buffering and it drives people crazy. You don’t want people drinking going crazy.”