Google, NFL meeting reportedly includes Sunday Ticket discussions

In the least surprising news of the week, as DirecTV's rights to the vaunted NFL Sunday Ticket package come close to their 2014 expiration date, rumors of who else may bid for them are starting and Google is right at the top. According to AllThingsD, league officials met with the internet giant today and among many topics, the package of rights to air all of the league's games to out of market viewers came up. As suggested, the folks in Mountain View (and several other companies we can all think of) can certainly afford the reported $1 billion DirecTV has been paying -- and YouTube has already shelled out to stream sports in the US and around the world -- but whether or not the NFL would actually sell to them is still in question.

As we mused on this week's Engadget HD Podcast, what's kept the NFL from selling the package in a different way -- explained by league officials as "really in the consumer's best interest" -- so far is a fear that other networks like CBS and Fox would want to pay less to broadcast those games. With billions at stake we'd be extremely surprised to see the status quo actually change, so while anything is possible your best bet without satellite is probably still a copy of Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition.