Google ready to raise its TV profile by spending $1B+ on NFL streaming deal?

AllThingsD reports that Google may be in discussions with NFL to buy the rights to the Sunday Ticket package when DirectTV’s contract runs out at the end of the 2014 season.

Today, according to sources, Google CEO Larry Page, along with YouTube content boss Robert Kyncl, met with a delegation from the NFL led by commissioner Roger Goodell. And the Sunday Ticket package was among the topics of discussion, according to people familiar with the meeting … 

DirectTV currently pays $1B a year for the rights to broadcast the Sunday games, charging an estimated 2 million subscribers $225 each for access – making it a loss-making operation. But just as that makes sense for DirectTV, a loss-leader add-on aimed at attracting subscribers to its profit-making packages, it may make equal sense for Google if it really wants to make a splash in TV.

Google clearly has big ambitions for the TV space. It’s believed there’s a Sony-branded Google TV on the way, with Google expected to announce more manufacturing partners at CES next year. There’s the rumored set-top box with motion-sensor and video camera. There’s the entry-level Chromecast stick. And of course, there’s only one reason for adding 4k support to Android.

But so far, it’s mostly geeks who are aware of it all. With NFL on board, all that could change overnight …