YouTube may very well be shut out of NFL video games for 2026

Just when YouTube thought it was in, they pulled it again out.

Not way back, YouTube was reportedly engaged in a “long-form contract review” with the NFL for a five-game bundle in 2026. As of Thursday, CNBC reported that the 4 video games the league reclaimed from ESPN would be split between YouTube and Netflix.

Now, YouTube may very well be SOL for the approaching season.

Via John Ourand of Puck, it’s doable YouTube “will wind up with nothing.”

Instead, it seems that Netflix will get its personal five-game bundle. Specifically, Netflix is anticipated to televise three of the 5 video games (to go together with its current pair of Christmas video games), with one of many three-letter networks getting the remaining two.

The scenario underscores the way through which the annual NFL slate of video games could also be decided going ahead. With broader weekly packages because the anchor of the schedule, the league can have a handful of back-pocket video games it would dangle to its numerous companions in an effort to additional deepen its pockets.

This method will end in surprising twists and turns. If YouTube finally ends up with nothing this 12 months (apart from its current Sunday Ticket bundle), that can rely as very surprising.

For now, the Netflix bundle for 2026 (per Ourand) possible will include the 2 Christmas video games, the Week 1 recreation in Australia, the Thanksgiving Eve recreation (which has quietly gone from doable to particular), and a Saturday recreation on the ultimate weekend of the common season that can lead into the same old ESPN doubleheader.

That leaves two video games that had been beforehand a part of the ill-advised Monday evening doubleheaders. Ourand reviews that the league has begun procuring them to CBS, NBC, ESPN, and Fox.

But not YouTube.

This reality alone underscores the chance that, in a matter of weeks, YouTube has gone from reportedly having 5 video games in 2026 to possible having bupkis.