Max is getting into the NFL Sunday Ticket huddle.
Google’s YouTube TV will offer a special bundle combining Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max with the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market football package, Alphabet and Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler told analysts on the internet company’s Q2 earnings call.
Google inked an exclusive, seven-year deal with the NFL to sell the Sunday Ticket package via YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels, starting with the 2023 season. Now, Max has signed on as a Sunday Ticket partner, part of an expanded deal with WBD that encompassed Google TV’s teaming up for the launch of Max (formerly HBO Max), according to Schindler.
Pricing and packaging of the Max-Sunday Ticket package on YouTube TV is not yet available. A rep for YouTube said “we don’t have additional details to share at this time.”
Currently, YouTube is selling Sunday Ticket in different combinations and special promos. For example, through Sept. 19, customers of YouTube TV ($72.99/month) can buy Sunday Ticket for $299 (regularly priced at $349) for the 2023 season. On a standalone basis, Sunday Ticket is available for $339 (regularly $389) from YouTube.
The deal with Warner Bros. Discovery shows that YouTube is looking for new ways to merchandise and market Sunday Ticket. Google will reportedly pay the NFL between $2 billion and $2.5 billion per year for Sunday Ticket, up from the estimated $1.5 billion that DirecTV had been shelling out.
Sunday Ticket includes all out-of-market Sunday regular-season NFL games that are broadcast on Fox and CBS, letting fans (or sports bettors) catch the action of every team live. That means that if you subscribe to YouTube TV and Sunday Ticket, you’ll be able to watch and/or record every single NFL game during the 2023 season.
Meanwhile, while DirecTV lost the retail distribution rights to Sunday Ticket after nearly three decades, it secured a deal with the NFL’s EverPass Media to offer the Sunday football games to commercial customers including casinos, restaurants, bars, hotel lounges and retail shops.