Apple, Amazon Reportedly Front-Runners for NFL Sunday Ticket Broadcast Rights

The NFL's Sunday Ticket broadcast is likely headed for a streaming service in 2023, and it appears two companies are viewed as the front-runners to land the contract. 

Apple and Amazon are leading the way in the race to win the Sunday Ticket package, according to John Ourand of Sports Business Journal (h/t Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio). Disney is still in the running but hasn't matched Apple and Amazon in terms of what it will pay to land the contract, Ourand adds. 

The cost for Sunday Ticket could be more than $2 billion per year, according to Ourand. However, the winning bidder could pay as much as $7.5 billion per year for the package, Florio reported earlier this month.

NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market package. It broadcasts NFL regular-season games each week. Currently, DirecTV sells the package for between $290 and $400 per season. However, the company is not expected to renew its contract when it expires after the 2022 campaign. 

Apple and Amazon's interest in the Sunday Ticket package doesn't come as a surprise as the NFL is trending toward more streaming options in the future. The league already has a deal with Amazon for Thursday Night Football, and it certainly seems like more streaming giants could come into the picture in the future. 

While Amazon has experience broadcasting live sports, AppleTV+ doesn't have any live content yet. It would be interesting to see how the company would approach broadcasting one of the largest sports in the world.