NFL Sunday Ticket Review 2023: Cost, Plans, and More

NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market sports package offered exclusively through YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels. It carries every regional out-of-market NFL game airing on Sunday afternoons—making it a must-have TV package for those who want the most live games. It’s also ideal for any football fan living in an area that doesn’t usually broadcast their favorite team.

The biggest drawbacks of NFL Sunday Ticket are its pricey plans and reliance on fast internet. But we’ll explain its features and limitations in more detail below to help you decide if NFL Sunday Ticket is right for you.

Jump to:

• Plans and prices
• Deals and promotions
• NFL Sunday Ticket vs. NFL+
• Specs and features

Is NFL Sunday Ticket good?

If you’re obsessed with the NFL, or at least a team far from home, then NFL Sunday Ticket is a worthy addition to any TV setup. It gets you over 200 live Sunday afternoon games that air regionally across CBS and FOX. Of course, every NFL fan would love that coverage, but the cost is as bulky as a defensive lineman.

NFL Sunday Ticket’s lowest retail price is $349 for a full season, and that’s when you get it with YouTube TV—which already costs $72.99 a month. Meanwhile, similar out-of-market packages like MLB.TV and NBA League Pass cost way less for more live coverage. But hey, it’s the NFL we’re talking about—what did you expect?

At least NFL Sunday Ticket is no longer exclusive to DIRECTV with its lengthy contracts and bulky equipment. And, apart from its price and internet requirements, there are still many aspects of NFL Sunday Ticket to celebrate.

NFL Sunday Ticket pros and cons

• Every live out-of-market NFL game
• In-game stats and multiview features
• Many supported devices

• Expensive pricing
• No single team plan

How much does NFL Sunday Ticket cost?

Four NFL Sunday Ticket packages exist, with prices ranging from $174 to $244 a season. What you pay depends on whether you sign up through YouTube TV or YouTube Primetime Channels and if you add NFL RedZone to your plan.

Plus $72.99/mo recurring for YouTube TV. Compatible device and internet connection required. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

YouTube TV offers NFL Sunday Ticket at $174 per season. For an additional $20 per season, you can add NFL RedZone to your subscription. Otherwise, NFL RedZone is also available in YouTube TV’s Sports Plus add-on for $10.99 a month.

While YouTube TV offers the lowest prices for NFL Sunday Ticket, you’ll still pay more in the long run because of YouTube TV’s monthly subscription fee. The NFL regular season runs from early September to early January—meaning you have four months of YouTube TV at $72.99 a month to think about.

The benefit of NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV is that you’ll get every in-market NFL game and most nationally televised matchups in one service. (The main exception is that Thursday Night Football now streams on Amazon Prime Video.)

But suppose you already have a TV provider, or you’re fine with using a digital antenna to get your in-market and primetime games. In that case, getting NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube Primetime Channels is the better option.

NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube Primetime Channels

Compatible device and internet connection required. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

YouTube Primetime Channels is a place within YouTube where you can subscribe to standalone add-ons without maintaining a YouTube TV subscription. Starting at $224 per season, NFL Sunday Ticket is the most expensive Primetime Channel that YouTube offers. But it’s the ideal route for NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers who don’t need YouTube TV.

Of course, without YouTube TV in your corner, you won’t have immediate access to important NFL channels like CBS, FOX, ESPN, and NBC alongside NFL Sunday Ticket. Though, aren’t we all used to jumping between apps and TV inputs to watch our favorite content?

Ultimately, if you already have a cable, satellite, or live TV streaming subscription outside the YouTube family, getting NFL Sunday Ticket through Youtube Primetime Channels is the way to go. You’ll still get the same amount of live out-of-market games without the added commitment to YouTube TV.

NFL Sunday Ticket deals and promotions

Since Week 9 of the NFL season, YouTube began dropping its price for NFL Sunday Ticket. All Sunday Ticket plans are over 50% off through the end of the 2023 regular season.

New DIRECTV subscribers can get up to a $400 Visa Reward Card when signing a two-year contract and showing proof of purchase of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube.†

NFL Sunday Ticket student discount

YouTube offers the NFL Sunday Ticket Student Plan for $109 per season through YouTube Primetime Channels—a full-season savings of $340. Students can also add NFL RedZone for an extra $10 per season

To qualify, students must verify that they’re 18 or older and enrolled at an accredited college or university. SheerID handles the verification process, where you supply documentation to prove your eligibility.

To sign up for the NFL Sunday Ticket Student Plan, visit the NFL YouTube channel and select Get NFL Sunday Ticket. The following window will feature a link towards the bottom that calls out the student plan.

How do I get NFL Sunday Ticket?

There are two main ways to sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket this season:

1. New and existing YouTube TV subscribers can get NFL Sunday Ticket as an add-on.
2. Non-YouTube TV subscribers can purchase NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube via its Primetime Channels hub.

No matter how you sign up, your NFL Sunday Ticket access revolves around your billing address. But your device’s location also plays a role in dictating which NFL games are available for streaming.

NFL Sunday Ticket vs. NFL Plus

Data effective as of post date. Compatible device and internet connection required. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

As the table above highlights, NFL Sunday Ticket offers over 200 live NFL games per season. That’s the amount of Sunday afternoon out-of-market games that CBS Sports and FOX Sports air during the regular season.

NFL+ (formerly NFL Game Pass) also has its fair share of live regular-season games. Its live coverage is only available on mobile devices and focuses on in-market and primetime games—not out-of-market matchups. But that still accounts for over 150 live games at your fingertips.

If you don’t care about watching every game live, NFL+ Premium is an excellent alternative to NFL Sunday Ticket. At $14.99 a month, you’ll get ad-free, on-demand replays of every game after the final whistle and live access to NFL Network and NFL RedZone. The streaming service also includes archived games from past seasons and premium content from the NFL Films library.

NFL Sunday Ticket specs and features

Apart from every live out-of-market NFL game, NFL Sunday Ticket offers unique features for those signed up through YouTube TV. There are interactive views for real-time stats, key plays, and scores. You can also use the fantasy football view on mobile to sync your NFL Fantasy Football league with live games.

Most importantly, YouTube TV rolled out a multiview feature for streaming up to four video feeds simultaneously. The downside is that YouTube defines the available multiview combinations. In other words, you can’t fully customize the four feeds by selecting any channel you want. But at least you can still enjoy a similar mosaic view experience that DIRECTV supplied with its Game Mix channels.

The beefed-up NFL Sunday Ticket + NFL RedZone plan takes the features a few yards further by including the NFL RedZone channel. Active only on Sundays beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern, NFL RedZone provides live coverage of every touchdown from every Sunday afternoon game. Sports anchor Scott Hanson hosts the game-day channel, reporting real-time stats from across the league.

Video and audio quality

NFL Sunday Ticket distributes games with a maximum video resolution of 1080p at 60 frames per second. Because the broadcasts originate from CBS and FOX, the exact video and audio quality can vary between games. It also means most matchups will unlikely be available in 4K.

Supported devices

One of the best parts of NFL Sunday Ticket moving to YouTube is that the YouTube and YouTube TV apps are widely available. From Android and iOS devices to smart TVs and gaming consoles, there are many ways to access your NFL Sunday Ticket subscription. Just remember, there’s a two-screen limit when streaming NFL Sunday Ticket outside your home location.

Data effective as of post date.

Is NFL Sunday Ticket worth it?

NFL Sunday Ticket offers live out-of-market access on Sunday afternoons and is now available through YouTube TV and YouTube’s Primetime Channels hub.

The major downside to NFL Sunday Ticket is its high price tag. It’s also only accessible to those with a high-speed internet connection, which costs extra and may not be available everywhere.

If you don’t need every live matchup, we highlight other NFL viewing options in our How To Watch NFL Games guide. Most cable and satellite TV providers carry the main NFL channels. But pairing NFL+ with an over-the-air HD antenna or an inexpensive live TV streaming service is one great way to tune in without breaking the bank.

NFL Sunday Ticket FAQ

Methodology

Our experts spent over two dozen hours watching and researching NFL Sunday Ticket on DIRECTV. Since YouTube took over the out-of-market package, we continued our research to determine if it’s a worthy TV add-on. We also compared its features and coverage to similar services and standard TV plans.

Check out our How We Rank page to learn more about our methods.

Disclaimer

Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.

†Req’s new DIRECTV svc w/24-mo. agmt. Offer not endorsed/associated with YouTube or NFL. Must redeem w/proof of NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube package purchase from YouTube and then get Visa Reward Card w/in 3 bill cycles. Offer excludes taxes. Avail. only at directv.com.