NFL+ is an over-the-top subscription service operated by the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) in the United States. The service offers live-streaming of the

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

broadcasts of all NFL games, streaming of the television broadcasts of in-market games on

mobile devices A mobile device or handheld device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in hand. Mobile devices are typically battery-powered and possess a flat-panel display and one or more built-in input devices, such as a touchscreen or keypad. Mod ...

, streaming of out-of-market

preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

games, live access to

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

, and library content from

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces advertisement film, commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentary film, documentaries ...

. The service's premium tier offers on-demand replays of NFL games, including alternate "All-22" and "Coaches Film" presentations, and live access to

NFL RedZone ''NFL RedZone'' (stylized as ''NFL RedZone from NFL Network'') is an American sports television channel owned and operated by NFL Network since 2009. It is named after the term " red zone", the part of the football field between the 20-yard line ...

. Outside the United States, NFL Game Pass International is distributed by the over-the-top streaming service

DAZN DAZN (; pronounced "da zone") is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top sports Sports broadcasting, streaming and entertainment platform. Founded in 2007 as Perform Group via the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group, it is o ...

, either a standalone subscription or an add-on to an existing DAZN package. The primary differences between the domestic NFL+ service and the international Game Pass version are that the latter is generally sold as a single combined tier, and also includes live streaming of regular season and postseason games regardless of device. The services are an amalgamation of several streaming services previously offered by the NFL. NFL Audio Pass (formerly NFL Field Pass) originally launched in 2003 in partnership with

RealNetworks RealNetworks LLC is an American technology company and provider of Internet streaming media delivery software and services based in Seattle, Washington. The company also provides subscription-based online entertainment services and mobile enter ...

to stream radio broadcasts of NFL games. In 2006, the league launched NFL Game Pass as its streaming service for international markets, offering both live and on-demand replays of game for those outside the United States. The league then launched NFL Game Rewind in 2008 to offer on-demand replays to U.S. customers before merging it with NFL Audio Pass in 2015 to form a U.S. version of NFL Game Pass. In turn, the U.S. version of Game Pass was merged with the NFL's in-market mobile streaming rights (formerly held by

Verizon Media Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

) in 2022 to form NFL+. DAZN then signed a ten-year deal in 2023 to distribute the international version of NFL Game Pass.

History

In January 2003, the NFL announced a partnership with

to serve as its

streaming media Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a Computer network, network for playback using a Media player (disambiguation), media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of Network packet, packets from a Server (computing), ...

partner, offering exclusive multimedia features during the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

via the company's RealOne SuperPass subscription service. Chris Russo, the league's senior vice president of new media and publishing, stated that the playoff content was a pilot that could lead to "a subscription program that includes elements such as video, audio, enhanced analysis and fantasy football" in the future. Ahead of the

2003 NFL season The 2003 NFL season was the 84th regular season of the National Football League (NFL). Regular-season play was held from September 4, 2003, to December 28, 2003. Due to damage caused by the Cedar Fire, Qualcomm Stadium was used as an emergen ...

, the NFL launched two subscription services in partnership with RealNetworks, including NFL.com Fantasy Extra–which offered expanded analysis and video content oriented towards fantasy football players, and NFL Field Pass–which would carry the radio broadcasts for all NFL games, video features on NFL.com (including game highlights), the weekly program ''NFL Insider Radio'', and coverage of team press conferences. To enforce exclusive regional rights and encourage use of the service, the NFL prohibited local radio affiliates from including game broadcasts in their

internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...

streams. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, the NFL launched NFL Game Pass as its streaming service for international markets in cooperation with

Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from Stats Perform. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. ...

; without the regional or national rights restrictions in the U.S., this international version could offer live NFL games, as well as live access to

and

. The league later launched NFL Game Rewind in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

for U.S. users, offering on-demand streaming of completed NFL games, including "Coaches Film" and "All-22" feeds. NFL Field Pass was renamed NFL Audio Pass prior to the 2010 season. That year, the NFL also started live streaming preseason games online. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the NFL merged NFL Game Rewind with NFL Audio Pass, forming a single service under the NFL Game Pass branding in the United States. The NFL previously maintained an exclusive mobile streaming rights package with

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

, as part of its official wireless carrier sponsorship of the league; streaming of in-market and nationally televised games on

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s was exclusive to the Verizon-operated "NFL Mobile" service, which was only available as a paid add-on for

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

subscribers. This exclusivity deal prohibited the NFL's television partners from streaming their telecasts on smartphones, thus network-run

TV Everywhere TV Everywhere (also known as authenticated streaming or authenticated video on-demand) refers to a type of American subscription business model wherein access to streaming video content from a television channel requires users to "authenticate" ...

streams could only be viewed on PCs and

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being computers ...

s. Under a five-year extension of the agreement beginning in the

2017–18 NFL playoffs The National Football League playoffs for the 2017 season began with the wild-card round on January 6, 2018, and it included the Minneapolis Miracle and concluded with Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018, when the Philadelphia Eagles defeated th ...

and

2018 NFL season The 2018 NFL season was the 99th season of the National Football League (NFL) and the 53rd of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 6, 2018, with the NFL Kickoff Game with the defending Super Bowl LII champion 2018 Philadelphia Eag ...

, Verizon waived this exclusivity to take advantage of its acquisition of

Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...

; mobile in-market streams, as well as other NFL-related digital content, was made available via

, while NFL broadcasters were authorized to stream games via their platforms on all device classes. In May 2022, it was reported that with the expiration of the NFL's agreement with Verizon (which had divested

AOL AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

and Yahoo! to

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...

in 2021), its teams had approved a proposal to

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content (media), content, with a purchase or a subscription business model, paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their website ...

mobile in-market streams behind a new "NFL Plus" service. NFL+ was officially announced on July 25, 2022, succeeding the U.S. version of Game Pass. The service was split into two tiers of the service, with the basic service offering in-market streaming on mobile devices, streaming of radio broadcasts and most preseason games, as well as library content from

and

. The on-demand replays of games then became available on the premium tier of NFL+. In 2023, live access of NFL Network and

was added to the basic and premium tiers of NFL+, respectively.

also signed a ten-year agreement to distribute the NFL Game Pass International service, either as a standalone subscription or as an add-on to an existing DAZN package. In addition to offering live and on-demand replays of games, and live access to NFL Network and NFL RedZone, the international version also offers other NFL and DAZN related programming. In 2024, DAZN launched ''NFL Travel Pass'', a weekly subscription allowing Americans traveling abroad to stream games, who would otherwise be geo-blocked from accessing NFL+ outside the United States and would have to pay full price for a regular monthly or annual NFL Game Pass International subscription.

References

External links

* * {{Sports television in the United States Subscription video on demand services NFL mass media

History

See also

References

External links