DirecTV might want to think about punting soon. 

For the second week in a row, the satellite television provider fumbled NFL Sunday Ticket — leaving fans unable to watch out-of-market NFL games.

• NFL Sunday Ticket was unavailable for close to 90 minutes on Sunday. Restaurants and bars didn’t seem to be affected. The company’s non-sports satellite broadcasts were also unaffected.
• DirecTV apologized last week after experiencing similar difficulties. The provider gave affected customers prorated refunds for the first week of issues.
• Sunday Ticket costs $293.94 for the season. Sunday Ticket Max, which includes NFL RedZone, costs $395.94.

“We will begin to reach out to our customers who were unable to stream some of the games on Sunday to let them know we will automatically reimburse them for week two,” a DirecTV spokesperson told Front Office Sports.

YouTubeTV, SlingTV, and NFL+, the league’s new streaming service, also experienced outages during NFL broadcasts in the season’s first week.

Change of Possession

DirecTV’s contract for NFL Sunday Ticket ends after this year, and tech giants are competing for the package.

Apple, Google, Amazon, and Disney have all shown interest. Previous reports indicated that the NFL was eager to bring in Apple to form a relationship with the U.S.’s leading provider of mobile phones.

The league is looking for $2.5 billion annually for the package, up from the $1.5 billion DirecTV currently pays. DirecTV typically loses money on the offering.

The NFL did not apply any pressure on DirecTV to end the deal early, sources familiar with the matter told FOS.

Former Manchester United board member Michael Knighton tweeted over the weekend that his takeover bid for the top-flight soccer club is “moving forward as planned.” 

A deal for Manchester United would be a hostile takeover, as the club isn’t officially on the market, but pressure from fans due to lackluster results and complaints about management has spurred sale speculation. 

“We are a club in crisis,” Knighton said in August. “Everyone knows that we need new ownership of this football club, and that is my aim.” 

• The Glazers — who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — purchased Man U for $854.48 million in 2005.
• The family is reportedly looking for roughly $4.3 billion in exchange for the team.
• Some outlets have reported that the Glazers could seek a record $5.8 billion. 

Knighton’s desire to acquire full control of Man U comes after a failed attempt to buy the Premier League club in 1989 from Martin Edwards, which fell apart after two major investors pulled out, leaving Knighton with a lack of funding. 

Competitive Field 

Sir Jim Ratcliffe — Britain’s richest man at $16 billion, per Forbes — has also expressed interest in buying Man U, but in August reportedly hadn’t heard back from the Glazers.

Man U would add to a portfolio of sports-related properties for Ratcliffe that include cycling team INEOS Grenadiers and soccer clubs Nice and FC Lausanne-Sport.

Porsche is looking to raise $9.4 billion in its initial public offering, valuing the luxury car maker and Formula 1 hopeful at as much as $78 billion. 

Earlier this month, Volkswagen announced plans to list Porsche — one of its 12 car companies — on the Frankfurt stock exchange, and will price shares of the German sports car brand between $76.58 and $82.58. 

• The transaction would make Porsche Europe’s third-largest IPO ever. 
• Volkswagen is only offering roughly 12.5% of Porsche.
• The company will use 49% of the proceeds to pay shareholders in a special dividend.
• Porsche is scheduled to start trading on Sept. 29. 

An IPO has already sparked the interest of potential investors. The Qatar Investment Authority has indicated plans to purchase a 4.99% stake in Porsche, while ADQ — an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government — as well as T. Rowe Price and others also plan to acquire Porsche shares. 

Deal Breaks Down 

Porsche was expected to secure a deal for 50% of Red Bull’s F1 team and 50% of Powertrains, but the two parties couldn’t come to an agreement. 

Red Bull’s investors reportedly weren’t willing to sell a stake in the F1 team and, among other issues, disagreed over the power to name drivers for a joint race team.

Another Volswagen company, Audi, announced plans in August to enter F1 in 2026 as a power unit supplier.