Smaller NFL Games Packages Could Be Available in the Future, But Don’t Expect Single-Game Options
It is possible that you won’t have to purchase a whole NFL Sunday Ticket package to see your team’s out-of-market games anymore.
The NFL is fully aware that streaming will force it back to the drawing board at some point. Indeed, NFL executives are already working on the challenging question of maximizing distribution and revenues for streaming NFL games as cable and satellite continue to slough off viewers.
- NFL chief media officer Brian Rolapp told Sports Illustrated that single-game streaming options aren’t on the table for now, but NFL game packages that aren’t all-or-nothing could be on the way.
- Rolapp also suggests that customization could be added to YouTube TV’s multiview experience for NFL Sunday Ticket, but that the company wants to ensure stream quality is as high as possible first.
- Alternate telecasts on streamers like Prime Video and ESPN+ are one of the biggest ways streaming can enhance the NFL experience, according to Rolapp.
Will the NFL Offer Single-Game Packages on a Streaming Service?
The league has taken note of the evolution of sports streaming services lately, especially platforms like MSG+,KnightTime+, and Jazz+ that offer fans the opportunity to pay to stream a single game at a time. Because the NFL has so many fewer games per season than the NBA or NHL, however, it becomes very difficult to work out the economics of offering single-game streaming.
NFL chief media officer Brian Rolapp sat down with Sports Illustrated to discuss the advantages and pitfalls of streaming. In the interview, he said that while it was possible that the NFL may allow fans to purchase smaller packages of games at some point (perhaps a single-team plan on NFL Sunday Ticket), single-game streams weren’t terribly likely.
“We’ve never liked [the single-game] model,” Rolapp told SI. “We haven’t heard a ton of that in our fan research that they want that. We think the value of the product is pretty good. Is there an opportunity for less than all games, maybe. We haven’t seriously talked about à la carte games. That’s nowhere really in our future.”
What’s Working With NFL Sunday Ticket, and How Can Streaming Improve the NFL Product?
Rolapp was also asked which aspects of NFL Sunday Ticket the league was happy with now that the out-of-market games package has moved to YouTube TV. He pointed to the fact that YouTube TV is able to distribute the package to millions of viewers at a time with good picture quality, and also pointed to Prime Video as another broadcast partner who has cracked the code of wide streaming distribution with an excellent fan experience.
“The question in the industry has been for some time, can the industry scale to accommodate that many concurrent users at one time at high quality like you get on television,” Rolapp explained. “The answer is yes, but that’s priority one. You see it on Amazon, you see it on YouTube. The picture is great. The experience is great, and we’re really happy with it. That’s sort of job one through five for anyone who distributes an NFL game, broadcast or not, is making sure that the broadcast and the delivery is of high quality and top notch.”
One area where Rolapp and the league may not be as satisfied with YouTube TV thus far is the number of users the service has managed to accrue for Sunday Ticket. A recent report indicates that NFL Sunday Ticket only has 1.3 million subscribers so far in 2023, and while the league gets its money from YouTube TV no matter what that subscriber number looks like, it was almost certainly hoping the wider availability of the package via streaming would boost its adoption by fans.
Rolapp singled out Prime Video and its “Thursday Night Football” streams when asked how streaming could improve the NFL fan experience in general. Prime Video has multiple alternate telecasts of “TNF” available, and recently announced the Dude Perfect crew would return for at least two games in November. Rolapp pointed to these alternate telecasts as a great way to boost fan engagement, and said streaming was a perfect delivery vehicle for such broadcasts.
“I think you see with streaming what we look at, which is starting to come, and you’ll see more of in the future is, you’re not just restricted by just one channel,” he said. “A lot of the alt telecasts that have been growing around the league, you see, digital allows that to happen a lot easier because a platform allows it. You see what Amazon’s doing a sort of Next Gen stats telecast. They’re doing some stuff with The Shop. They’re doing some stuff with Dude Perfect. Of course, the ManningCast is on linear television, but you’ve got almost infinite shelf space when it comes to digital. You’re not restrained.”
The ManningCast also streams on ESPN+ during the course of the season, which reinforces Rolapp’s point that streaming platforms offer the flexibility to carry as many alternate telecasts as the provider wants, and that each can bring in an audience segment that might otherwise not watch NFL games.
That flexibility is not present in the NFL’s thinking when it comes to single-game streaming, however. Rolapp says that fans don’t want it, and while less all-encompassing NFL packages could be available to consumers soon, they shouldn’t expect a single-game option from the league.
ESPN+
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