Report: Amazon has “serious interest” in NFL Sunday Ticket

Posted by Mike Florio on September 10, 2021, 1:58 PM EDT
Amazon Delivery Center In Belfast During Covid-19 Lockdown
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Most of the NFL’s broadcast deals have been extended. One hasn’t.

NFL Sunday Ticket continues to be available. Alex Sherman of CNBC.com reports that Amazon has “serious interest” in the package.

Per the report, Amazon already is in talks to secure the rights when the DirecTV contract expires after the 2022 season.

The annual rate reportedly could land in the range of $2 billion to $2.5 billion per year. Amazon will pay the NFL $1 billion annually for the Thursday night package, starting in 2022.

Apple and Disney also are reportedly interested. Per the CNBC report, NBC’s Peacock service is not expected to be a player for the Sunday Ticket package.

DirecTV has held the Sunday Ticket package since its inception in 1994. It allows for fans to watch all out-of-market games on every Sunday of the season.

It’s possible that the company that lands Sunday Ticket also will have to purchase a chunk of NFL Media, which the league currently is trying to sell.

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48 responses to “Report: Amazon has “serious interest” in NFL Sunday Ticket”

  4. DirecTV has been garbage since they were acquired by AT&T, so having the Sunday Ticket removed from their control will be a win.

  5. As long as they could make it where we can order individual games instead of getting ripped off paying for teams and games we have zero interest in, lower the price so more fans can watch the team they follow.

  8. Good. I couldnt work out a deal last year with DTV so I passed and really didnt miss much. My rate shot up last month from a 12 month deal I had going and called and found out they gave me Sun Ticket and Redzone for free this year. I like the ticket because having lived all over the country via military I follow a lot of teams. Hey if its 200 a year no problem 300, thats too much. Personally I love 100% off sales.

  10. DirectTV has done a horrendous job the last few years with sunday ticket. Can’t go elsewhere soon enough

  11. Thank God Dish TV stinks. I probablly won’t oder it because Redzone is fine for me. Seeing how I live in my childhood market still.

  12. I am sure it will be a pain in the arse to flip games when your main game is at commercial while you wait for the service to buffer and load. I hate streaming sports. Shows and movies fine, sports when multiple games are going sucks

  13. The NFL needs to cut out the middleman, like they do in Europe. Or structure any deal to allow both a company like Amazon AND a direct Game Pass worldwide. It’s silly that they haven’t already done so. USA viewers shouldn’t stand for the fact that European viewers have a better option ($200 yearly) than USA domestic viewers!

  14. Sunday ticket would be great if you wanted to watch every play of every game. I’ll stick to Redzone. It’s football for people with ADD. Only action and highlights. Less of the fluff in between.

  16. If I can buy JUST my team’s games every season for like $100 – they’d have that $100 every year, for ever.

  17. Depending on the price, they’d do well to get nfl media too. They can afford it, and that would secure them some valuable assets in the film.

  18. Directv does stink. I would drop it in a second without Sunday Ticket. I live out of my team’s market so my primary motivation is to watch them play each week. But I do like the option to watch whatever game I choose, e.g., division rivals or close games. Red zone and fantasy don’t do it for me.

  19. I’m no fan of DirecTV but I bought the package from its inception on Thanksgiving Weekend 1994 and not once has a game “buffered” while watching it. Lambo76 is right when they said streaming sports suck. If Amazon gets this it will suck.

  20. Then what happens when Bezos buys a team? I’ve read he is interested in being an owner. Will other owners allow both? I doubt it.

  21. It’s ridiculous that with so many streaming options, the NFL is still stuck in a dinosaur like DirecTV – or any pay TV network (like ESPN).

    It’s insane to not give fans more choice. I’m not going to buy an entire TV package I don’t need just for NFL games.

    I should be able to go to NFL.com and pay a modest fee on the spot to stream any game I want. Or buy a package directly from them.

    In the absence of that, Amazon sounds like the best bet yet. I would definitely watch there.

    I remember watching Thursday night games for free on the Twitter app a few years back. Seems like they’ve taken a step back since then.

  22. Struggling at this point to see why the NFL doesn’t just go a la carte/pay-per-view.

  24. I don’t pay anything for redzone or any NFL game. an occasional glitch is nothing. I can handle a few moments of interruption now and then.

  25. I don’t know who these guys are that can’t watch streaming sports without constant buffering. Up your wifi game. I stream everything on my tv and never have issues

  27. With the advent of OTT devices like Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TVs, etc, DirecTV is becoming obsolete. Dishes, cable boxes, etc will soon be a thing of the past.

  28. I’m surprised Pea app Also know as Comcast also know as NBC is not going to jump in. There are allot of people that have moved over the years and can’t watch their hometown team. They will never offer it alcate just like you can’t order the three channels you actually watch on your cable service. If you want it bad enough you need to buy all the games. It is a business at the end of the day and it’s about that cheddar. I don’t blame them it’s just the facts. I think this website would be a great place to stream games.

  32. Direct tv is garbage. While the Amazon deal would be a rich getting richer kinda thing it’s good for the average nfl fan.

  33. You can tell who the old guys are by the comments on hating streaming. Streaming is the future and the present to a degree. Better get used to it. Good thing is as long as you have a good internet speed the quality can be just as good or better than anything you’d get on Direct TV. Not sure how I feel about Amazon gobbling up yet another thing I love but the price would likely be a lot better at the very least.

  34. Please! I bought a house earlier this year after decades of apartment dwelling. And I’d had to cancel the credit card used for my SundayTicket streaming-service-only auto-renewal.

    What does that have to do with SundayTicket? The answer should be nothing, but I spent a few hours in fear of losing the service. I’m in a small town with no sports bars, so for the first time in years I would have been unable to watch my out-of-market team every week.

    Fans shouldn’t be extorted into using DirectTV to watch football just because they have a clear line of sight to the DirectTV satellite. No other major league does that.

    I know for a fact that my interest in the NFL is tied to my ability to watch my team every week. I just don’t see how it’s good for the NFL to cut out so many people just because they don’t have DirectTV.

  35. raidermantony1964 says:

    September 10, 2021 at 2:06 pm

    As long as they could make it where we can order individual games instead of getting ripped off paying for teams and games we have zero interest in, lower the price so more fans can watch the team they follow.
    ————-
    Except you wouldn’t save money unless your only missing 1 or 2 games a year you would want to see, otherwise you’ll end up paying more. Afterall look at ppv movies their 29.95 so you would likely be spending about that per game. Very very rarely do you ever save money by buying separately something that’s packaged in a bundle. In this case let’s say 8 of your games you could see otherwise well that leaves 9 games then at $30 for $270 so right there your roughly 1 game more away from laying the same AND you didnt get to watch any other games.

  36. I see a number of comments saying “good” now lower the price Amazon. That is the last thing that will happen!

  37. Of love to have the option to pay for just my Team too.
    But it’s pretty naive for any of you asking why they don’t ocher it.
    It’s obvious. 90% of fans are bandwagon fans. The only terms that would be bought year After year would be the most popular and winning at that time.
    And that would result in way less revenue for the NFL.
    Never gonna happen.

  38. Hopefully this happens. Or another major streamer jumps on board. I would have to pay 73.95 a month in my state to watch all games. Problem is I just want to watch Dolphins games. I can’t watch all games on a Sunday so why would I pay for it? That is a package that your local pub needs to broadcast different game. The average fan? They’ll watch their team and maybe the Sunday night, Monday night, and occassional Thursday games. We need to have different packages to buy. I would buy all my teams games that aren’t nationally televised on a week to week basis. If I’m not home? I won’t watch, therefore I shouldn’t have to pay.

  41. Game Pass only gives you replays of games. Especially if you have fantasy teams you constantly get updates and know the scores. Knowing the scores takes away from the actual enjoyment of watching in my opinion.

  42. Please let there be more options, the technology is there. The NFL and their partners would make so much money off allowing the public to pay for single games, game packs, a season of a team, the combinations and possibilities are endless. Directv is dead so this would be a good first step.

  43. My buddy has Sunday Ticket and I just always find it impossible to follow all those different games at the same time. Doesn’t seem worth the money. I personally watch my home town Bears and then the late afternoon games on other channels plus the Sunday night broadcast. I am not interested in paying all the extra cash to follow teams I am not interested in.

  45. Please God let this happen. The ONLY reason I have DirectTV is so I can get my team’s games. Not only is their regular TV quality crappy, their version of the NFL Redzone is horrible compared to the NFL Networks version with Chris Hanson.

  46. For those of you saying Europe is better… the options here in the UK are 1)Subscribe to Sky Sports (this will work out several hundred pounds per year as it’s a Tv service subscription and you can watch 1 game per time slot) 2) Redzone (self explanatory but also requires the Sky Tv subscription) 3) paying for NFL Gamepass (I think about £150 per year) to stream any game not covered in point 1.

    Amazon streamed some football (soccer) games last year in the UK and there was a significant delay. If you think it’ll bring the cost down… I think you’ve got another thing coming

  47. I’ll take that. I am set whatever they do. I have a site that I use that I can get any sport, so it wouldn’t be huge if they don’t get it.

  48. lowlyfinfan88 says:

    September 10, 2021 at 8:02 pm

    Hopefully this happens. Or another major streamer jumps on board. I would have to pay 73.95 a month in my state to watch all games. Problem is I just want to watch Dolphins games. I can’t watch all games on a Sunday so why would I pay for it? That is a package that your local pub needs to broadcast different game. The average fan? They’ll watch their team and maybe the Sunday night, Monday night, and occassional Thursday games. We need to have different packages to buy. I would buy all my teams games that aren’t nationally televised on a week to week basis. If I’m not home? I won’t watch, therefore I shouldn’t have to pay.
    ——-
    And as I replied earlier and to every article where this comes up every year you WONT save money. PPV movies are 29.95 which is likely what the nfl would charge per game if they went that way(a la carte is always more expensive) so unless your buying less than half of your games your paying more 5han you would on the package. In addition what you claim the average fan who purchases nfl ticket watches is extremely extremely far off and untrue to the average fan and ratings prove that.

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