What YouTube is doing now
YouTube wants a lot of games and a streamlined way to watch them, according to people familiar with its plans who asked not to be identified. The company stayed mum on its larger strategy, even after last year securing one NFL game for its ad-supported platform and nailing down "NFL Sunday Ticket" through the end of the 2029-30 season.
Executives are gaming out what happens if the NFL breaks apart Sunday Ticket. YouTube already shells out about $2 billion annually for that package, and those funds plus more could be redeployed for a different, premium set of games if the league splits its rights.
The kind of rights YouTube wants
Insiders say YouTube is an eager bidder for live games across almost all major U.S. leagues, but only when the rights can be tailored to a simple pitch for viewers. Think packages like every local game or an entire tournament slate, ideally with both in-market and out-of-market access. That contrasts with Netflix, which favors individual games or tournaments it can turn into mini-events, while YouTube leans toward bigger bundles with a clear proposition.
Earlier this year, Sports Business Journal reported YouTube was in advanced talks to serve as the NBA's regional sports network solution, with a concept covering 20 to 25 teams and a price potentially topping $1 billion. CNBC first reported in July that YouTube is interested in the FIFA Men's World Cup rights. Still, people familiar with the discussions say YouTube is wrestling with whether the NBA idea works if it cannot secure all the teams, and it is unclear if the league wants to sell complete rights to a single platform.
How sports fits into YouTube's business
Sports are a lever for YouTube Premium. Several weeks back, YouTube Premium reached an agreement to bring Peacock programming inside the service at no additional charge. Premium removes advertising on YouTube and is priced at $15.99 a month.
Premium doesn't necessarily want to become an aggregator of other streamers, and what may interest executives is buying a meaningful slice of live games and putting them behind the paywall. Free YouTube can then serve as the on-ramp, showing a small number of games to nudge viewers into paying for the full slate on Premium, with creators amplifying the push through their sports videos.
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Leadership is in place to do it. In the previous year, YouTube recruited Justin Connolly from Disney and installed him as its worldwide lead for media and sports. Connolly spent 25 years at Disney, rose to president of platform distribution overseeing ESPN and Disney+, and was among the company's highest paid executives.
What this could mean for viewers and rights pricing
Last month, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC the league may rethink how it packages games to better fit today's media world. One option is deconstructing Sunday Ticket, which would create more sellable bundles. Analysts at Wolfe Research told clients Friday they expect the NFL "will tier its rights in order to maximize the value of premium tiers while setting lower cost tiers to firms with more limited buying power."
If the NFL slices the pie differently, YouTube could reshuffle its spend and bid for whatever new bundles emerge, then steer fans between free and paid viewing to fit that strategy. For everyday viewers, the upshot is simple: where you watch, and what you pay, could shift as the biggest platforms try to make sports subscriptions feel like a no-brainer.
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