At one point before Netflix landed a five-game package of NFL regular-season games for 2026, talks with YouTube and the NFL for the same set of games had progressed to a “long-form contract review.”
So what happened? John Ourand of Puck has the whole story.
It started when the NFL removed the Week 1 49ers-Rams game in Australia from the package. The NFL, per Ourand, believed YouTube would still be willing to split the five games with Netflix.
Instead, YouTube pulled the plug.
From Ourand’s Varsity newsletter: “[S]everal sources said that YouTube executives were so upset at losing the Australia game that they walked.”
The message, as Ourand interprets it, is that YouTube wanted NFL games but it didn’t need them. Which raises broader questions about the ambitions of the streaming giant when it comes to the NFL, and other live sports.
For now, YouTube has the Sunday Ticket package. The pending appeal of the $4.7 billion verdict in an antitrust lawsuit (which could become a $14.1 billion judgment) could dramatically alter the Sunday Ticket product.
Beyond that, YouTube’s willingness to pass on a slice of pro football pie could mean that, when it’s time to gather partners at the table for the various NFL packages, YouTube may decide to skip the entire meal.
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