NFL Finds Partner to Distribute Sunday Ticket to Bars, Restaurants; DIRECTV Not Involved
Although we’re still six months away from the beginning of the pro football season, the NFL never stops doing business. The league has announced a new partnership with RedBird Capital to create EverPass Media, which will be responsible for distributing its out-of-market games package NFL Sunday Ticket to bars and restaurants starting in 2023.
This is the first year that Sunday Ticket will reside in its new streaming home, YouTube TV. The live TV streamer won the rights to the package in December, but because business like bars and restaurants frequently do not carry streaming services, the league was forced to seek out another partner to distribute Sunday Ticket games to commercial establishments.
“Making our games as widely available as possible has been the bedrock of our media strategy and Sunday Ticket’s presence in bars, restaurants and other commercial venues provides millions of fans a way to watch all out-of-market games on Sunday afternoons,” the NFL’s chief media and business officer Brian Rolapp said. “We look forward to working with EverPass Media to expand the Sunday Ticket footprint in commercial establishments across the country.”
The agreement means that DIRECTV will no longer have any involvement with the Sunday Ticket product. The satellite TV provider was the home of the package from 1994 until last year, when decreasing audiences and increasing costs led the company to opt out of pursuing the rights further. Nonetheless, DIRECTV was believed to have an interest in teaming with the NFL to be the commercial distributor of Sunday Ticket, but the league has decided to go with RedBird instead.
“We are excited to partner again with the NFL to develop an innovative platform to expand the league’s reach to its fan base and the sports media ecosystem more broadly,” RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale said. “Anchored by Sunday Ticket, EverPass Media will provide premium rights holders a scalable live event entertainment service that will enhance the customer experience at commercial establishments across the country.”
This doesn’t mean that DIRECTV is completely out of the game when it comes to NFL rights. In August of last year, the company came to an agreement with Amazon to distribute “Thursday Night Football” games in bars and restaurants. “TNF” games are still broadcast on TV in local markets, but because Prime Video is the only way to watch them nationwide, it needed DIRECTV to act as a commercial distribution partner.
There’s no doubt that DIRECTV will miss Sunday Ticket, despite the fact that it was costing the company quite a bit of money toward the end. The company has been offering former Sunday Ticket users special discounts or free channel packages to convince them to stick around despite its departure.
For its part, YouTube TV is hard at work ensuring that the Sunday Ticket experience is as good for fans as it can be this fall. The company has confirmed viewers will be able to watch multiple games at the same time with their subscription, and that fans will be able to choose between multiple games packages within Sunday Ticket, though there will still be no single-team options at this time.
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is a live TV streaming service with more than 60 channels for $72.99/month. This plan includes local channels, 32 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs) in select markets. The service includes an unlimited DVR.