EricVega Google's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) YouTube is said in advanced talks with the NFL to gain the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. An agreement may be reached as early at Wednesday after a meeting of NFL owners, according to a WSJ report. Although the WSJ didn't have terms, the New York Times reported that Google (GOOGL) discussed paying $2.5 billion a year for the package of Sunday NFL games, up from the current $1.5 billion paid by DirecTV, which is co-owned by AT&T (T) and private-equity firm TPG. Under the potential new agreement, NFL games would be able to be streamed on two subscription services, YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels, in the next NFL season, the WSJ reported. Many industry watchers, including analysts, sports media executives and others, have long expected Apple (AAPL) to win the bidding for the football package. Google (GOOGL) increased its pursuit of the Sunday Ticket package as talks between the league and Apple (AAPL) continued to linger, the NYT reported late last month. Other partners that the NFL has considered offering the service to include Disney's (DIS) ESPN and Amazon (AMZN). Both companies have relationships with the league, for Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football, respectively. Earlier Tuesday a Wells Fargo analyst opined that Disney (DIS) could spin off ESPN as soon as late next year.
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