Hoping to cash in on digital revenue, the National Football League has launched its own streaming service.
Joining the ranks of Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, the National Football League has announced its long-awaited tiered streaming services that allows fans to watch live games on their mobile devices. The league announced on Monday that they are offering two tiers in its new streaming services that will be available on smartphones and tablets.
The league's streaming service is called NFL+ and costs $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, CNBC reported. THis tier comes with access to pre-season games and archived football footage, while its higher-tier subscription called NFL+ Premium costs $9.99 monthly or $79.99 annually and features ad-free game replays and coaches film, a camera angle that lets fans see the game from all 22 players on the field.
The new NFL streaming service differs from NFL Network or NFL Sunday Ticket, which both require payments through a cable service provider. NFL+'s launch also marks the end of the NFL Game Pass offering in the US.
NFL+ to Offer Great Content to Football Fans
NFL+ marks the first time the American football league operated its own streaming service, which will offer access to exclusive games and other great content. Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association have their own streaming services that offer out-of-market games in their subscriptions.
For NFL+, fans can expect all live out-of-market preseason games, live local and primetime regular season and postseason games, TechCrunch reported. Viewers can also enjoy NFL Network shows on-demand, NFL Films archives, live local and national audio for all games, and other exciting content.
Previously, local and prime-time regular season and postseason games used to be available for free on the Yahoo! Sports app. Meanwhile, live out-of-market preseason games were only accessible through an NFL Game Pass subscription, which had a price tag of $99.99 annually.
NFL Game Pass subscribers in the US need not worry however, as auto-renew subscribers will be automatically enrolled in NFL+, providing them access to more content for a discount of $20. To enjoy all of its previous features, NFL Game Pass subscribers must be signed up for NFL+ Premium.
The Future of NFL Streaming Services
The launch of the NFL+ streaming service marks a departure from traditional network television, a move spawned by the demand for mobile access to content. NBA offers a similar streaming service with League Pass, which allows fans to watch games from both their mobile devices or TVs.
In a statement, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the leave is deepening their relationship with their fans by "providing them access to a tremendous amount of NFL content," CBS News reported. Sports business experts commented that the new NFL streaming service is an attempt to capture the younger football audiences and create a new revenue stream for the league, which is now 102 years old.
Washington University sports business professor Patrick Rishe remarked that NFL has made a "smart, shrewd and relevant business move" based on data that showed how younger generations such as Gen X and Alpha Gens are "streaming more and more content and have a greater propensity to subscription services."
