It appears that Madden NFL 24 as well as DirecTV reached an "broad agreement" regarding the Madden NFL 24 Sunday Ticket package, giving the cable provider control over this sports bundle for the next decade, according to the Sports Business Journal. Terms are being discussed however, the new agreement will likely to align approximately with Madden NFL 24's current television contracts. The current deal between the league and ESPN lasts until 2021. The contracts for CBS, NBC and Fox are in effect until 2022.
To broadcast out-of-market games to paying customers, DirecTV will pay an annual rights fee starting at $1.3 billion, which will increase to $1.4 billion over the next decade.
DirecTV has been Madden NFL 24 Sunday Ticket's sole distributor for over 20 years. The current contract which has a $1 billion annual fee, will expire after the 2014 season, completing the deal over a period of four years.
The Madden NFL 24 and DirecTV are in talks about an extension of their contract for some time. The Sports Business Journal notes that an official announcement isn't likely due to issues regarding control over digital rights still being discussed but these issues aren't significant in relation to the scope of the deal.
This year, Madden NFL 24 offered a variety of possible buyers for the Sunday Ticket, though reportedly none as serious as DirecTV. Even though the package remains an extremely sought-after commodity with more than two million subscribers paying between $239.94 to $329.94 -- cable operators have stated that the presence of the extremely fast Madden NFL 24 RedZone TV channel in packages that offer sports makes the Sunday Ticket less sought-after.
Google was thought to be interested buying some of the Madden NFL 24 Sunday Ticket at one moment, however it's not known whether or not the Internet company had serious discussions in conjunction with league officials.
DirecTV was purchased by AT&T in spring this year however the deal indicated that AT&T could opt to cancel the acquisition if DirecTV did not have the capacity to renew its contract for Sunday Ticket plan. It could have led to an even greater profit on the Madden NFL 24. with DirecTV determined to do whatever it could to ensure the merger didn't fall through.
