First, there’s this report from The Athletic [PAYWALL]:

The NFL under terms of its agreement with its existing media partners cannot currently negotiate with other firms. But it is no secret Goodell and Apple CEO Tim Cook talk. One subject they surely broached is Sunday Ticket. DirectTV has two more years left to carry the out-of-market package and then is widely expected to walk because of shifting priorities at parent AT&T. The NFL has long been under pressure to open Sunday Ticket to more platforms than just satellite, and streaming it through Apple TV would solve that concern.

And this explainer from Jason Snell (headline link):

For those who don’t know, NFL Sunday Ticket is a subscription offering that allows football fans in the U.S. to watch all live games that are being shown outside their local market. It’s been exclusive to satellite-TV provider DirecTV for decades, and has probably driven millions of people to sign up for DirecTV. (Me included!)

DirecTV pays the NFL $1.5B (that’s Billion with a B) per year for the exclusive rights to this package. Their deal expires at the end of the 2022 season.

This may be much ado about nothing, pure speculation on the part of The Athletic. And it might also be that Apple gets involved sooner, offering a streaming sidecar in cohort with DirecTV.