Football fans better be ready to watch more games on YouTube in the future.
The platform is the favorite to land a four-game slate of regular-season contests that the NFL kept as part of an equity deal with ESPN, Sports Business Journal reported.
The report dubbed YouTube the “early leader” for the package, though there are still several parties reportedly interested in it.
The four games in the package were part of the recently greenlit deal between ESPN and the NFL that will see the former take ownership of NFL Network while the league gets a 10 percent stake in ESPN.
It wasn’t immediately clear what games would be part of the package, though one could envision that some of the league’s international games could end up on the digital platform.
“Beyond an international element, other games that could go to YouTube could be for exclusive windows elsewhere on the calendar, such as later in the season when streamers such as Peacock or ESPN+ have picked up games in the past,” Sports Business Journal wrote. “Other sources have told SBJ that the NFL could be interested in expanding its Black Friday slate, which has been a sole Prime Video game thus far.”
The slate of games would signal a growing relationship between the NFL and YouTube as digital platforms and streaming services become more prominent when it comes to the NFL’s media rights deals.
The NFL aired its first game on YouTube this past season when the Chargers and Chiefs played during Week 1 in Brazil.
The game drew an audience of 18.5 million viewers in the United States.
There were an additional 1.1 million fans who tuned in abroad to watch the Chargers defeat the Chiefs.
