The National Football League is reportedly developing its own subscription streaming service.
According to The Athletic, NFL officials recently previewed the service, which is currently called NFL+, to team owners at the league's annual offseason meeting. But it likely won't be ready until team owners meet again in May 2022 - when they would then need to vote to decide whether the NFL will officially launch the service. It's unclear how such a platform would affect the NFL's existing deals.
For several years until 2021, Verizon had exclusive mobile streaming rights to NFL games, so some are speculating the NFL might be using the idea of NFL+ to coerce Verizon into a better deal. Keep in mind the NFL has also reportedly been negotiating with Apple and Amazon to land NFL Sunday Ticket, the league's out-of-market games service, after its deal with DirecTV expires in 2023.
And, starting with the 2022 season and running through 2033, Amazon Prime Video will be the only place to watch Thursday Night Football. So, with the NFL already selling the rights to most of its live games via the Sunday Ticket and the Thursday night deal with Amazon, one has to wonder: What will consumers actually get if they decide to pay for a subscription to NFL+?
Live games are almost certainly what people want the most, and the Athletic seems to think NFL+ will indeed still serve up live games in addition to podcasts and "team content" all for an unknown monthly price.
Pocket-lint will keep you posted if and when the NFL makes an announcement, and of course, we'll bring you any leaks as they surface.
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