The light is at the end of the tunnel for the NFL in finding a new suitor for its NFL Sunday Ticket platform, with negotiations with Apple taking longer than expected.
DirecTV’s run with Sunday Ticket will end at the end of this season, and Apple has long been viewed as the frontrunner to secure the rights.
But John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal doesn’t believe all signs point to the Silicon Valley giant.
“I think the fact that this is going on for so long suggests that it’s not a lock with Apple,” Ourand told Jimmy Traina on the SI Media Podcast. “Roger Goodell has suggested that it’s gonna go to a digital provider.”
Ourand added that a deal should be finalized by the end of this year, something he says NFL executives have remained consistent on. But he did say that you shouldn’t count out other big tech players just yet.
“Amazon could re-engage, Google has been some sort of outlier,” he said. “People have been throwing Disney’s name out there, but I don’t think that’s been a really serious bid.”
Ourand also suggested that if the asking price for Sunday Ticket gets too high or they don’t get exactly what the league is looking for from its potential new partner, you could see the league keep Sunday Ticket remain in house on the NFL app.
“If they don’t get the price that they want, or negotiations go too much, they could say for a season or two they’ll just put it on the NFL app and build that up as well,” he said.
