Amazon.com Inc is in talks to acquire the rights of the National Football League's (NFL) "Sunday Ticket" package and is seen as the frontrunner by others involved in talks with the league, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The NFL is expected to ask between $2 billion and $2.5 billion per year for the package and wants to wrap up discussions before the season ends in February, the report https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/10/amazon-likely-front-runner-for-multi-year-nfl-sunday-ticket-deal-sources.html said on Friday.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while the NFL could not be reached.

The move would help boost Amazon's live sports offerings on its streaming service.

Earlier in May, NFL said it had moved up the date for Amazon's Prime video to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football, beginning with the 2022 season.

Amazon's earlier agreement for NFL's extremely popular Thursday night matches was for the 2023 season. However, the new agreement, financial details of which have not been disclosed, is set to begin the streaming partnership with the 2022 season.

  - Reuters