Sports

Google is talking to the NFL about buying the rights to broadcast games on YouTube

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Google is holding informal talks with the NFL about potentially broadcasting games on YouTube, Peter Kafka at All Things D reports.

Google would get the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket package, which broadcasts all the out of town games. DirecTV currently owns that package, but its deal with NFL expires next year, so the NFL is starting to talking to potential bidders.

The current package costs DirecTV $1 billion a year. Ben Schacter at Macquarie says the next deal will cost much more. He notes that recent deals from CBS, FOX, and NBC were up 50-60%, and the NFL negotiated a new deal for players that suggests revenue has to rise 30 percent.

He estimates a new deal will be up 20-25% for the Sunday Ticket. (Based on his numbers, we think it would be more.)

Google has the money. If wants the NFL, it can get the NFL. Kafka says the NFL is open to “over the top” providers, or non-traditional broadcast outlets like YouTube.

On the one hand, for Google a U.S.-based sports league is kinda small peanuts. It’s a global company with global ambitions. On the other hand, the NFL is huge in the U.S. Buying the rights to the NFL could be a big game changer for anything Google wants to do in the TV-market.

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