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Google, or more specifically, YouTube won the rights to host NFL Sunday Ticket for the next seven years. YouTube is paying the NFL about $2 billion per year for these rights, and YouTube is going all out with promoting it, providing discounts and different plans that you can subscribe to. Now in this article, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube, and help you decide if you should subscribe or not.
What is NFL Sunday Ticket?
First off, let’s talk about what NFL Sunday Ticket actually is. It first debuted in 1994, and DIRECTV had the rights to it the entire time until the 2023 season. It’s a premium sports package that broadcasts NFL games in every market. But it does not include local or nationally broadcast NFL games.
Because the NFL has deals with NBC, FOX and CBS across the country for games, NFL Sunday Ticket has to be more expensive, so that they don’t cut out their partners. Which will explain why NFL Sunday Ticket is so expensive.
In addition to getting every single NFL game this season, you will also get unlimited simultaneous streams at home for NFL Sunday Ticket.
How much is NFL Sunday Ticket?
Google is actually doing something really smart here. They are offering NFL Sunday Ticket with YouTube TV and without YouTube TV. You can also subscribe to it directly through YouTube Primetime channels. Of course, the cost for NFL Sunday Ticket is lower with YouTube TV – but then you also need to factor in the $72.99/month for YouTube TV which does include over 100 channels.
The pricing for NFL Sunday Ticket with YouTube TV is as follows. For NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, it’s $349. For NFL Sunday Ticket with NFL RedZone and YouTube TV, it’s $389.
Without YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket is going to cost you $449 for the season. Or NFL Sunday Ticket and NFL RedZone will cost you $489 for the season.
YouTube has also announced monthly pricing for NFL Sunday Ticket, but it seems to only be for YouTube TV. It’ll cost you $99.75/month for four months. Which makes it more expensive than just paying for it all at once.
Why is it so much more expensive than when DIRECTV had NFL Sunday Ticket?
When DIRECTV had NFL Sunday Ticket, it cost $294 for the season. Now we’re seeing it cost $349 for the season with YouTube TV, or $449 without. Which sounds like it’s more expensive, but with DIRECTV you had to have satellite, which was definitely way more than $72.99. So all things considered, it’s really not that much more expensive.
But part of the reason for this is, YouTube is paying the NFL $2 billion per year for the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. And obviously, Google needs to recoup that cost somehow. DIRECTV was paying $1.5 billion pear year and losing $800 million per year for NFL Sunday Ticket.
YouTube has said that they will be experimenting with different pricing plans and options in the future. In fact, they just announced a new student plan (pricing has not yet been announced), which is just the start of that.
Does NFL Sunday Ticket include local games?
NFL Sunday Ticket does not include local games, nor nationally broadcast games. Which is why the bundle with YouTube TV is a pretty good option. That is because you will get local and nationally broadcast games with YouTube TV. And you can also record them to watch later with unlimited cloud DVR included.
YouTube TV does have ESPN, NBC, FOX and CBS which covers all of the channels that local and national games are part of. It also has the NFL Network, which has the occasional NFL game – typically around Christmas and New Years. Some Thursday night games are on Prime Video, which is not part of YouTube TV.
So the bottom line here is, if you want local games too, then you’re going to want to get YouTube TV plus NFL Sunday Ticket.
Does YouTube TV offer multiview for NFL Sunday Ticket?
YouTube TV actually announced Multiview earlier this year and began testing it during the NCAA March Madness. This was in preparation for NFL Sunday Ticket.
With Multiview, you’ll be able to watch, two, three or four games at the same time. Subscribers will be able to choose from a bunch of options for multiview, and you’ll also be able to add games to multiview on your own. So if there’s a couple of games you want to watch at the same time, you can do just that.
NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube will include live chat
Much like a live stream on YouTube, NFL Sunday Ticket is also including live chat – which can be toggled on and off. Since this will only be for those that subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket, the chat should hopefully not be full of spam, and not move as fast as with some YouTube live streams.
YouTube is also going to utilize Shorts for NFL Sunday Ticket. By adding real-time NFL highlights to YouTube Shorts, which likely won’t be limited to just NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers.
YouTube’s popular “catch up with key plays” feature will be available too
YouTube TV has a pretty popular feature that allows you to catch up with key plays for different games in different sports. And that feature will be available on NFL Sunday Ticket on both YouTube and YouTube TV.
This will kind of speed up the game to the part that you started watching. So you can ensure that you do not miss any big plays, or anything else important that happened in the game.
Are pre-season and post-season games included?
Yes, both pre-season and post-season games are included in NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV – but not on YouTube. Technically, they are only included in YouTube TV because they are on the channels included in YouTube TV. But nonethless, you an see them while subscribed to NFL Sunday Ticket.