Google winning the NFL Sunday Ticket sweepstakes surprised nearly everyone in sports and tech when the agreement was officially announced last week. Next season, football fans will need YouTube TV (or YouTube Primetime Channels) to watch out-of-market telecasts, perhaps to follow their hometown team.
The news was a shocker because Apple was viewed as the heavy favorite to win the package. (Earlier this year, Apple and the NFL reportedly had a deal but the tech company didn’t want an announcement. Perhaps Apple was hoping to save the big reveal for an event? “One more thing…“)
Did analysts and observers also assume Apple would get Sunday Ticket because it’s viewed as the cooler, sexier tech company? So many of us have Apple devices like iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Macbooks, and Apple TV. Additionally, Apple TV+ arguably offers more prestige content TV shows including Severance, Ted Lasso, Slow Horses, Bad Sisters, and Academy Award Best Picture winner Coda.
The NFL surely preferred an association with a company viewed as visionary and forward-thinking. How could Apple innovate the NFL broadcast product? How would the genius engineers and designers in Cupertino, California improve on what already exists or create something new?
YouTube, by comparison, is more populist, the option that many consumers prefer for streaming live TV over Hulu + Live TV. Subscriptions aside, so many more people go to YouTube for music, movie and TV clips, podcasts, and video content like The Pat McAfee Show. YouTube might not have the “premium” sheen that Apple boasts, but fans are much more familiar with it and know where to go for the content they want.
As it turns out, Apple may have believed too much in its acclaimed reputation during negotiations with the NFL. According to The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan, the tech giant is looking ahead to virtual reality and augmented reality, and wanted to work with the NFL on those content platforms.
Yet is that something that would truly interest the mainstream football fan? Sure, it would probably be spectacular to put on a VR headset and watch a game from a premium, 50-yard-line vantage point. Yet would that come with all of the assorted camera angles and replays that viewers are accustomed to on conventional broadcasts? Don’t people really just want to watch the game?
And what about a shared event like the Super Bowl? You invite people over for a party to watch The Big Game together? With a VR or AR setup, would everyone have to wear a headset? Or would you be wearing your headset and watching that enhanced view alone while your friends are watching the regular telecast? “Oh, man – you guys have to see this… !“
The NFL likely didn’t want to include technology that doesn’t yet exist and might not be ready as part of a 10-year package. Or perhaps the league saw an opportunity to sell another rights deal when watching football in virtual reality is ready for prime time. The NFL and Apple will probably revisit this in a few years.
But the NFL was more interested in the present, in what’s happening now, with Sunday Ticket and the reported $3 billion per year that the league was seeking in rights fees. Apparently, Apple and Amazon weren’t interested in those prices — especially when many NFL fans get their fix with RedZone — which is why Sunday Ticket didn’t land with either of those platforms.
Those two companies may also have preferred to include the out-of-market package with their already existing services — Apple TV+ and Prime Video, respectively — rather than charge a separate $300, which was the case for most DirecTV subscribers. That would’ve been great for consumers, but not so good for the NFL, the perception that Sunday Ticket is a premium product, and the truckloads of money available.
So the NFL went to Option No. 3. Should YouTube winning the Sunday Ticket package have been that much of a surprise? Five to eight years ago, tech companies and streaming providers were viewed as the next frontier for the major sports leagues. TV rights fees could only go so high and far.
When sports media and tech observers were speculating as to which companies would get into sports, Apple, Amazon, and Google were cited as the most likely participants. (Netflix was probably on the list, as well, but live events have never quite fit with its content.) Apple signed on with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, while Amazon nabbed the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package.
Google, meanwhile, was still looking for that significant sports partnership. YouTube has had exclusive MLB broadcasts for the past four seasons, but only for a handful of games. That wasn’t really moving the needle on the sports media gauge, nor was it destination TV for fans. To be a presence on the sports landscape, Google needed the NFL.
YouTube doesn’t carry the catalog or prestige of Apple TV+ and Prime Video. Once upon a time, the streamer was in the content production business — and even had a hit with Cobra Kai. But that wasn’t nearly enough. Producing TV series and movies didn’t work for its business model and YouTube Originals was shut down last year.
With Sunday Ticket, YouTube doesn’t have to worry about production costs and attracting top talent. The service rebroadcasts CBS and Fox NFL game telecasts. Just keep the stream rolling, preferably close to the live broadcast. For Google, it’s more about distribution, which shouldn’t be a problem with the massive reach already available. Not to mention that there’s already a present audience among YouTube TV’s five million subscribers.
Ultimately, the NFL chose the streaming partner that offered the most money. That was always going to be the final determination. Not potential future innovations, not the best deal for fans. But the size of the digital footprint and mainstream familiarity were surely appealing factors. And after years of speculation that Google would get into sports, the company landed the nation’s most popular game for its streaming platform. It’s a partnership that made sense all along.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
