Despite multiple reports on Thursday saying the NFL and DirecTV have reached a new agreement to keep the exclusive Sunday Ticket package on satellite television, the league says no deal has been reached.
“We do not have an agreement. Any speculation or reports to the contrary are not accurate,” NFL Media Group VP/Communications Alex Riethmiller told Sports Business Daily.
An agreement may not be done, but DirecTV’s CEO declared himself “very optimistic” that a deal will get done to keep Sunday Ticket exclusively on DirecTV. So it sounds like DirecTV is prepared to spend whatever it will take to keep the NFL’s owners happy. If DirecTV can’t come to terms with the NFL on a new deal, the NFL could open it up to cable companies, or to Internet distributors like YouTube or Netflix.
Under the current deal, which extends through the end of the 2014 season, DirecTV pays the NFL about $1 billion a year.