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NFL discussing new Sunday Ticket deal with DirectTV; no agreement yet

Though DirecTV is "optimistic," it hasn't reached a deal to keep its NFL Sunday Ticket. (Jeff Roberson/AP) The NFL and DirectTV have extended the timeline of
Doug Farrar|
NFL discussing new Sunday Ticket deal with DirectTV; no agreement yet
NFL discussing new Sunday Ticket deal with DirectTV; no agreement yet

Though DirecTV is "optimistic," it hasn't reached a deal to keep its NFL Sunday Ticket. (Jeff Roberson/AP)

The NFL and DirectTV have extended the timeline of negotiations that would keep the lucrative Sunday Ticket package with DirectTV, Retuers reports.

The satellite company last signed a deal with the league in 2009 to broadcast out-of-market games to its subscribers, for which the subscribers pay up to $300 per season and DirectTV has paid $1 billion per year. DirectTV has said approximately two million people receive the service. That contract expires after the 2014-2015 NFL season.

"We've had very constructive conversations with the NFL, but it's complex," DirectTV CEO Mike White said During the company's investor day Thursday. "I'm very optimistic we will get an exclusive deal done on NFL Sunday Ticket."

On Friday, John Ourand of Sports Business Journal heard from NFL Media Group VP/Communications Alex Riethmiller, who said, "We do not have an agreement. Any speculation or reports to the contrary are not accurate."

In 2011, the NFL renewed its network and cable television deals to go through the 2022 season and extended its agreement with ESPN to continue to broadcast Monday Night Football through the 2021 season. All of those deals will expand league coverage in significant ways, and the NFL has been looking for other ways to make its seemingly bulletproof brand even more valuable.

In August, the Associated Press reported the league was engaging in discussions with Google regarding the Sunday Ticket package. Earlier in the year, Patrick Pichette, the search and technology company's chief financial officer, said, "It serves the shareholder best to actually have that strategic ability to pounce" when this type of acquisition is possible. Robert Kyncl, Google's vice president and global head of business at YouTube, was reportedly a key man in those discussions.

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Doug Farrar
DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009,  Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine.  He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.

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