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 said on Friday.

The "Sunday Ticket" service allows NFL fans to watch a wide variety of football games outside of their local markets.

Amazon declined to comment on the report, 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 is set to begin the streaming partnership with the 2022 season.