For well over a decade out-of-market NFL fans were also DirecTV subscribers to ensure they can watch their favorite team every week during the season. Following the 2022 regular season, it was made public the relationship between the NFL and AT&T (DirecTV) was ending.

NFL Sunday Ticket would go to the highest bidder, and while there were many suitors it was YouTubeTV who ultimately won the bidding war.

YouTube landed the package on which DirecTV had since 1994. For somewhere between $2 billion and $2.5 billion annually, YouTube and YouTube TV will sell to interested consumers the right to watch out-of-market games.

At the full retail price of $399 for the season and at only $2 billion per year, YouTube will need 5 million subscribers to break even.

With this being the first season with YouTubeTV in control of the NFL Sunday Ticket package, they are preparing to unveil some new facets of the package which didn’t previously exist with AT&T. Here are some:

• Discounted pricing for students is coming, with details to be announced next week.
• Viewers watching Sunday Ticket will be able to engage in live chats and polls.
• An “extensive assortment” of multiview combinations will be available.

Beyond the annual price, YouTube has set up a couple of other options for Sunday Ticket. For example, Verizon will make Sunday Ticket available to certain subscribers. Also, Warner Bros. Discovery will offer a Max-Sunday Ticket bundle.

Be on the lookout for news on these features in the coming days/weeks as the NFL season approaches, but it also should be noted there are major concerns about the streaming aspect of this deal being an issue. Will the streams be behind? Will their be issues with loading? Unfortunately, we won’t know anything for certain until Week 1 rolls around.