Report: NFL close to deal with Google, YouTube for Sunday Ticket rights

The NFL is close to completing a deal with Google for the rights to the league’s Sunday Ticket package, the Wall Street Journal‘s Joe Flint reported on Tuesday. The games would be available to be streamed via YouTube TV and YouTube PrimeTime Channels, both of which Google owns.

The news comes as it was reported last week that Google and Amazon were the final two choices remaining for the NFL. According to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, the NFL wanted a bid much higher than what Amazon was willing to offer, allowing Google to move in as the favorite.

An agreement could be reached as early as Wednesday following a meeting of NFL owners who are required to approve rights deals.

The rights to Sunday Ticket are currently owned by DirecTV, which pays the NFL $1.5 billion annually. The package allows subscribers to access games that are not televised in their local market. It also offers the popular Red Zone Channel, which alternates between games to show key plays such as touchdowns and turnovers.

According to Ourand, Google and YouTube would offer NFL Sunday Ticket on a tier at a premium price, much like how DirecTV does now. That would mean YouTube TV subscribers would be required to pay extra to add the package.

A move to YouTube would be another big win for streaming services after the Thursday Night Football game moved from NFL Network to Amazon Prime this season. It would also be a major get for YouTube TV, which overtook Netflix as the most viewed streaming service for TV earlier this year. YouTube TV costs $64.99 a month for its basic package, and surpassed five million subscriptions in June.

There is currently no information available on the terms of the deal between Google and the NFL.