NFL Sunday Ticket Commercial Customers Plummet by Over 10%; Why are Bars and Restaurants Canceling?

A new report from CNBC has details as to why Sunday Ticket could be losing so many of its business customers.

David Satin

October 17, 2024

The distribution arrangements for NFL Sunday Ticket are far more complex than most fans have any way of knowing. By now, audiences are likely aware that YouTube TV acquired the rights to distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to residential customers before the 2023 season, but DIRECTV retained the ability to sell the out-of-market games package to commercial establishments through a partnership with EverPass Media. A new report from CNBC states that DIRECTV is losing NFL Sunday Ticket business customers, and digs into the reasons behind these defections.

Key Details:

More than 10% of NFL Sunday Ticket business subscribers have left DIRECTV this season.
EverPass Media now sells a streaming version of NFL Sunday Ticket that many commercial establishments could be opting for.
DIRECTV might also be losing business customers who are illicitly subscribing to a residential Sunday Ticket plan for less money.

Sunday Ticket might be being distributed illicitly by bars that are purchasing cheaper residential subscriptions.

CNBC’s report found that more than 10% of the 300,000 commercial establishments that buy Sunday Ticket from DIRECTV have canceled their subscriptions six weeks into the 2024 NFL season. DIRECTV is allowed to distribute Sunday Ticket via a deal with EverPass Media, a joint venture between the NFL and RedBird Capital which controls the service’s commercial rights and price.

DIRECTV is responsible for delivering Sunday Ticket through linear means, and does so via its traditional satellite dish. But its deal with EverPass specifically allows that entity to create a direct-to-consumer streaming service to deliver Sunday Ticket as well, and earlier this year EverPass acquired the streaming tech platform UPShow to create such a streaming option.

At least some of the bars and restaurants that formerly received NFL Sunday Ticket are likely choosing this streaming service instead, particularly since they can bundle it with other commercial services provided by EverPass, including Peacock Sports Pass from NBCUniversal, or Prime Video from Amazon. EverPass also offers first-year discounts on Sunday Ticket to subscribers, giving them a financial incentive to make the switch.

The streaming version of NFL Sunday Ticket costs the same as DIRECTV’s linear version. Businesses with a fire code occupancy of less than 100 pay $1,100 per season for NFL Sunday Ticket according to CNBC, and the bigger the business, the more it pays.

That opens the possibility that some businesses that have canceled their DIRECTV Sunday Ticket are opting to sign up for residential plans of Sunday Ticket via YouTube TV, saving hundreds of dollars per season. The problem with this scheme is that it’s a violation of the Sunday Ticket terms of service; commercial establishments aren’t allowed to distribute residential Sunday Ticket to customers.

CNBC reports that EverPass officials are performing surprise checks on bars and restaurants to make sure they aren’t doing this, and also use advanced digital tracking techniques to ensure compliance.

“The NFL has a long history of vigorously defending our intellectual property in all corners of our business, including ‘NFL Sunday Ticket,‘” a league spokesman said in a statement to CNBC. “Policing media delivered via streaming brings new challenges and requires new solutions to enforce the rules, but we continue to be vigilant in this area and will pursue those who are accessing ‘NFL Sunday Ticket’
in unauthorized ways.”

It’s not clear how many establishments are resorting to piracy to get Sunday Ticket. The popularity of the NFL means it’s happening somewhere, and it could be eating into a lucrative revenue stream for DIRECTV as it struggles to keep NFL Sunday Ticket commercial subscribers.

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