NFL to talk with partners outside of core media for live games, CNBC reports

Feb 6 (Reuters) – The National Football League plans to hold discussions with non-traditional media outlets about the possible sale of rights to a live game, its media chief Hans Schroeder told CNBC Sport on Friday. "We have other people that are both partners in a smaller sense — maybe not a full package — or people that still are in the media landscape somewhere that would like to be an NFL live game partner," Schroeder told CNBC in an interview ahead of Super Bowl LX in San Francisco. Schroeder did not provide details on which companies could be interested in buying a live game, CNBC said. "We're going to have those conversations," Schroeder told CNBC, adding the NFL wants to "understand all our options and how to think about the best model for us, for our fans, for our teams going forward." The league sold a week one game to Google's YouTube last season reportedly for about $100 million, seeing that a shift towards streaming has made digital a rival to broadcast TV. "Now you see these big digital platforms that can reach broadcast level audiences," Schroeder said during the interview with CNBC. "That just creates more optionality." The NFL will host a record nine international games next season. The league may offer a new package for some of those games to a media partner as soon as next year, he said. The NFL did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Seattle Seahawks will face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl LX on February 8, arguably the biggest single event in U.S. sports, with a huge global audience. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

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