The NFL continues to expand the offerings on its own NFL+ over-the-top streaming service, especially with the addition of NFL Network (all packages) and NFL RedZone (premium packages) last month. That came with a price hike to $7 a month (standard package) or $15 a month (premium package), or $50/$100 a year. But there are still deals out there that can reduce that cost, including 20 percent off on the yearly subscriptions for now from the league’s own site. One particularly interesting one was announced by Verizon this week, where the communications company revealed a deal to offer their mobile and internet customers 40 percent off annual subscriptions to NFL+ Premium (so $60 rather than $100) if bought through their +play subscription platform. Here’s more on that from a release:
Starting today on +play, Verizon customers can get the full NFL experience with NFL+ Premium. With NFL+ Premium, fans get:
- NFL Redzone to catch every touchdown from every game, every Sunday afternoon during the regular season
- NFL Network for 24/7 football news and coverage, plus eight exclusive live games this season
- Fantasy+ for next-level roster and waiver tools on mobile to improve your fantasy team performance
- Live local and primetime regular and postseason games on mobile phone and tablet, as well as live game audio to listen to home, away and national broadcasts on any device for every game
- NFL programming on demand and ad free
+play is Verizon’s one-stop-shop to discover, purchase and save on subscription services. The platform features over 30 partners across entertainment, lifestyle, gaming, fitness and more, with special savings exclusive to Verizon customers2.
From watching condensed game replays to getting a birds-eye view of on-the-field action with ‘All-22’ Coaches Film, this offer is for NFL fans who don’t want to miss out on premium content from teams across the League.
Customers can redeem the offer through +play, which is available to all Verizon mobile, 5G Home and LTE Home Internet customers who want exciting content from entertainment, lifestyle, gaming and more – all in one place and only on Verizon.
There are several notable elements to this. One is that it makes some sense for Verizon to come up with a deal for NFL+, as that service’s launch last year emphasized the “live local and primetime” games for mobile devices and tablets that had previously been in the Verizon package (and offered through Yahoo as well back when Verizon still owned that company: they sold it to Apollo Global Management in 2021 ).
There was more in the package even then, of course, including features like All-22 film that had previously been in NFL Game Pass (which they rolled into NFL+). And there’s more still now with the NFLN/RedZone additions. And NFL+ could grow stronger still down the road, with recent discussions of it even getting exclusive games.
But the game content here is still going to be familiar to Verizon customers who had watched it under the previous setup. So it’s significant that Verizon has come up with a way to offer a substantial discount on this package even though they no longer have the rights to air it, which is somewhat similar to what DirecTV is doing with a “Free Sunday Ticket” promotion (delivered via a rebate) for new customers despite no longer having those rights.
A key difference is that this Verizon move comes from an official NFL partnership, though. And it’s part of their larger ongoing involvement with the NFL. Speaking of Sunday Ticket, they’re also offering that package (which now comes through Google/YouTube) for free this year to mobile and internet customers with qualifying plans. And they’ve recently announced team sponsorship deals with the Washington Commanders, Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns, and have continued to upgrade stadium networks. In that release, Verizon chief content officer Erin McPherson emphasized the importance of working with partners like the NFL:
“With Verizon, NFL fans get access to the best services at unbeatable prices and we are thrilled to be bringing this offer to our customers. By creating promotions with amazing partners like the NFL, we’re giving customers options for the football content they crave. We’re giving them the power to choose the content they interact with and how they consume it, while also delivering value they can’t get anywhere else.”
The NFL’s move to NFL+ has been interesting on a number of fronts. For one thing, this year’s addition of NFL Network and NFL RedZone has them offering a full linear league network over the top; we’ve seen quite a number of regional sports networks doing that (and generally at much higher prices), but not league networks, and there’s been a lot of Sturm und Drang about ESPN’s plans to offer their full linear feed direct-to-consumer (a key part of the ongoing Disney-Charter dispute). The NFL has been able to pull that off without a lot of pushback, with even a Comcast carriage dispute for NFLN and Red Zone earlier this year quickly resolved (after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell got involved, and after Comcast got some other benefits).
Beyond that, the league initially based NFL+ around the former Verizon/Yahoo mobile rights package, which they used to get around $500 million a year for (under the last 2018-2021 deal). But there reportedly wasn’t a lot of interest in that package after it expired, certainly not at that price. So the league has perhaps made some chicken salad despite that, using that package as an initial linchpin of NFL+, then expanding NFL+ further and boosting the price, and now even getting a sponsorship/discount deal on that package with a company that used to pay them for those rights directly. And it’s notable to see Verizon continue their involvement with the NFL (and with sports; they’ve been rumored as a potential ESPN strategic partner, and they have some other sports irons in the fire) even after selling off Yahoo, and using a NFL deal to promote their +play subscription store.
[Verizon]
