NFL May Sell Live Games To Streaming Platforms After $100 Million YouTube Deal, Raising Stakes For Disney, NBC And Traditional Partners

The NFL is weighing whether to sell live game rights to streaming and other non-traditional media companies.

NFL Opens Door To Streaming Platforms For Live Games

The NFL plans to hold talks with non-traditional media companies about potentially selling the rights to a live game, NFL Media chief Hans Schroeder said in an interview with CNBC Sport from Radio Row ahead of Super Bowl LX in San Francisco.

Schroeder said the league is aware of smaller-scale partners and other players in the broader media ecosystem that have expressed interest in carrying an NFL live game, and the NFL plans to engage in discussions with those potential partners.

He said the league wants to explore all options as the media landscape continues to evolve.

$100 Million YouTube Deal Signals New Strategy

The comments come after the NFL sold a Week 1 regular-season game to YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, last season for about $100 million.

Pressure Builds On Traditional NFL Media Partners

The NFL's existing media partners — Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS), Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY), Comcast Corp's (NASDAQ:CMCSA) NBCUniversal and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) — are expected to begin early discussions later this year on a new round of media rights deals, four years ahead of the current agreement's opt-out clause.

International Games Could Be Next

The league is also expanding its international slate to a record nine games next season and may sell a separate media package for some of those matchups as soon as next year.

"That'll be one of the things we look at," Schroeder said.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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