For some time now, we have known that the NFL owners have been looking at using an option in their contract with AT&T to cancel their deal. This would allow NFL owners to offer NFL Sunday Ticket as a standalone service or resell the rights with the goal of adding a streaming-only option.
According to BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield, it is expected that the NFL will do just that this spring and the new deal will come into effect in 2020.
There are even reports that Apple, Amazon, and Google are all looking at buying rights for the NFL Sunday Ticket to offer a streaming version of the package.
In 2014, the NFL renewed their deal with DIRECTV for NFL Sunday Ticket through 2022. Yet there is an early out of the contract that would let the NFL out of their contract in time for the 2020 season.
The NFL is not alone here. MLB is also in talks to allow in-market streaming on their MLB.TV service as sports move away from big contract deals.
We should know the future of the NFL Sunday ticket in time for the 2019 season. Even if they pull the rights, AT&T still has the 2019 NFL Sunday Ticket rights locked up right now.
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