Roger Goodell has long said that when it comes to the “NFL Sunday Ticket,” he wanted to reach larger audiences and consider different platforms of delivery. 

If recent reports pan out, it appears the NFL commissioner may get his wish.

The NFL is reportedly nearing a multiyear deal — worth about $2.5 billion annually — with Google’s YouTube TV to stream its “Sunday Ticket” package, which allows subscribers to watch every NFL game on Sundays regardless of their home market.

• DirecTV has held exclusive rights to “NFL Sunday Ticket” since 1994.
• The NFL’s current deal with DirecTV expires at the end of this season.
• DirecTV currently pays $1.5 billion per year for “NFL Sunday Ticket.” 

When and if a deal is announced, it would mark the second NFL package to move online. Amazon paid $1.2 billion annually for the rights to “Thursday Night Football” in March 2021.

Apple and Disney were reportedly bidding along with Google — owned by Alphabet, Inc. — for the rights to “Sunday Ticket.” The NFL previously considered selling “Sunday Ticket” in a package deal with a stake in NFL Media, which includes NFL Network, NFL RedZone, and NFL.com.

As part of its pending deal, Google will not be acquiring a stake in the league’s media arm. 

Streaming Craze

In June, Apple agreed to a $2.5 billion deal with Major League Soccer that will see Apple exclusively stream every MLS match for 10 years starting in 2023. In August, Paramount Global renewed its contract for U.S. rights to the UEFA Champions League in a six-year, $1.5 billion deal.

With a phone call from Hawaii, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen took Major League Baseball into unprecedented territory.

The Mets swooped in to sign infielder Carlos Correa to a 12-year, $315 million contract after the San Francisco Giants raised medical concerns regarding their previously agreed to 13-year, $350 million deal with Correa.

• The Mets payroll is projected to be $385 million, blowing past the previous record set by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022 of $306 million (or $271 million after removing the salary of the suspended Trevor Bauer).
• Due to escalating penalties starting at $233 million in player payroll, the Mets will pay an estimated $113 million in additional payments to MLB’s competitive balance fund.

With a net worth of $17.5 billion, per Forbes, Cohen is Major League Baseball’s richest owner. The second and sixth richest, the Washington Nationals’ Ted Lerner and family ($6.4 billion) and the Los Angeles Angels Arte Moreno ($4.1 billion), are both selling their teams.

It’s Not Just Cohen, Either

MLB teams have committed over $3.4 billion to free agents this offseason, led by the Mets with $1.6 billion. 

The collective bargaining agreement lifted the threshold at which teams must pay into the competitive balance pool from $210 million in 2021 to $230 million for the most recent season.

The new CBA calculates payroll as an average over the life of the contract, incentivizing teams to favor long deals in certain cases. Shortstops Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts inked 11-year deals for $300 million and $280 million respectively.

LIV Golf League players won’t be left out of next year’s Masters tournament.

Augusta National Golf Club announced that any golfer who qualified for the major championship based on its current criteria will be able to play.

The top 50 players in the Official World Golf Rankings are invited. Additionally, players in the top 50 the week prior to the 2023 event will get an invitation. Invitations to the tournament — which takes place in Augusta, Georgia, on April 6-9 — will be sent this week.

There are 16 golfers on the LIV Tour eligible to compete.

• Six of them are previous winners of the Masters: Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, and Charl Schwartzel.
• Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka are eligible thanks to their major wins.

“Our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April,” Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley said. 

“We look at every aspect of the Tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April.”

LIV’s Lawsuit

An August lawsuit filed by Mickelson, DeChambeau, and nine other LIV golfers accused Ridley of working behind the scenes for the PGA Tour and instructing players in this year’s tournament to not defect to LIV Golf. 

The lawsuit also accused Augusta National of threatening “to disinvite players from The Masters if they joined LIV Golf.”