Football fans watch the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks at a sports bar on February 2, 2014 in New Jersey.
Cem Ozdel | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
DirecTV has entered into a multi-year deal to continue broadcasting the National Football League’s “Sunday Ticket” package to commercial establishments, including bars and restaurants.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The NFL has sold the commercial rights to “Sunday Ticket” to EverPass Media, a joint venture owned by private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and the NFL, earlier this year. The companies confirmed the “Sunday Ticket” offer on Thursday afternoon.
The deal, which begins in the 2023 season, gives DirecTV the ability to use its network of satellite TV installations to connect sports bars, casinos, restaurants and hotels across the U.S. with “Sunday Ticket,” just as it has in previous years. said the people.
While it’s the first deal EverPass has struck with commercial rights distribution, the deal doesn’t guarantee exclusivity, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. The joint venture may negotiate a separate deal with other cable or streaming companies that may want commercial connections outside of satellite TV, the people said. EverPass may also build its own commercial connections in future years, bypassing third-party licensing, one of the people said.
Since 1994, DirecTV has been the sole provider of the “Sunday Ticket,” a Sunday afternoon package of out-of-market NFL games. Bars and restaurants like Buffalo Wild Wings and Hooters rely on the “Sunday Ticket” to bring in large crowds on Sundays during the NFL season.
The NFL signed a seven-year contract with Google‘s YouTube TV for residential broadcast rights to “Sunday Ticket” in December. The deal begins at the start of the 2023-24 season.
YouTube TV paid $2 billion a year to win residential rights to “Sunday Ticket,” a price DirecTV was unwilling to pay.
DirecTV is co-owned by private equity firm TPG and AT&Twith AT&T owns 70% of the company.
The satellite TV provider has focused on its commercial sports rights business in recent months as a companion to streaming services that do not have commercial rights. DirecTV announced in March that it would air Major League Baseball’s “Friday Night Baseball” games and Major League Soccer’s “Season Pass” for a network of more than 300,000 restaurants, bars, hotel lounges, retail stores and other commercial locations. Both packages stream to Apple TV+ residentially.
DirecTV has it too the rights to commercially broadcast the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football.”. These games are broadcast on Amazon Prime Video for the home.
WATCH: NFL ‘Sunday Ticket’ deal with YouTube is ‘a good deal,’ says Bruin Capital founder
