YouTube's NFL Sunday Ticket Pricing Is A Crushing Disappointment For Football Fans
For nearly three decades, DirecTV had the key to a perfect Sunday for fans of NFL football, as the satellite TV provider exclusively held the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. The package allows viewers to watch every single game going on that day, rather than just the in-market games that are usually pretty limited. But the times began a changin' in December 2022 when YouTube won the rights to Sunday Ticket beginning with the 2023/2024 season. Now, one of the biggest questions with the big change has been answered, as YouTube has unveiled pricing for the season. Without hyperbole, it is a crushing disappointment for anyone who might have hoped this would level the playing field.
According to a press release, NFL Sunday Ticket via YouTube TV will have a base price of $449 for the season. For those who already subscribe to YouTube TV, which offers live TV starting at $64.99 per month, that price goes down to $349. Currently, the company is offering introductory pricing of $349 for non-subscribers and $249 for subscribers. There is also an option to add NFL Redzone to the packages. That bundled package goes for $389 for subscribers and $489 for non-subscribers. Again, there is an "early bird" price of $289 and $389, respectively, but how long those early bird rates will last has not been made clear.
What is clear, however, is that YouTube paid a gigantic sum to the NFL for the privilege of offering this package to the masses, and they fully intend to capitalize on it in price-gouge-y fashion. Many fans (such as myself) hoped/assumed that wrestling the rights away from a greedy satellite company would mean this package would become more affordable. Alas, it ultimately is more or less just as expensive.
How does it compare to DirecTV?
The primary benefit is that YouTube is not requiring you to sign up for any other service to get Sunday Ticket. While DirecTV did begin offering a streaming package in its waning years, it was still priced at $75 per month for the season (around $300 in total) and had its limitations. For those who don't wish to subscribe to YouTube TV as well, Sunday Ticket can be bought through YouTube's "Primetime Channels," which is essentially a premium add-on to YouTube. Much in the same way that you can subscribe to other streaming services through Amazon's Prime Video, for example.
Mainly, this is a more flexible option that opens the doors to literally anyone with an internet connection. We are no longer beholden to DirecTV. Unfortunately, the price is very comparable to what it was under the old regime. DirecTV's cheapest package was $294 last season, though you did also have to subscribe to their base service. But $64.99 per month for YouTube TV plus $349 for the season (outside of the early bird offering) sure as heck isn't going to be a money saver by comparison. And sure, there's flexibility, but that flexibility will set you back nearly $500 for the season as a non-subscriber.
In an era where people are upset by a $1 increase to a Netflix subscription when consumers have quite a few streaming services to choose from, this pricing feels archaic. The temptation to subscribe to multiple services to watch everything one wishes to watch is already making the streaming era feel a lot like cable. Now, football fans have to once again endure a monster corporation bleeding them dry for the opportunity to watch the games they want to watch each week. It's no better than DirecTV.
Why is it still so expensive?
Live TV streaming services have become increasingly popular as cord-cutting has accelerated, and that's largely why the NFL hitched its wagon to YouTube for the future rather than stick with an old media business like DirecTV. But YouTube TV only has around 5 million subscribers, which is a drop in the bucket compared to giants like Netflix and Disney+. One might have thought the Sunday Ticket rights were a ploy to juice those subscriber numbers by offering an attractive price point as a bundle with YouTube TV.
Instead, it seems they've opted to take advantage of die-hard football fans, with many others left out in the cold as this is truly an extravagant annual expense that your average Joe likely can't include in their budget. You'll never meet a more devoted fan of NFL football than me, and even so, I can't begin to justify that sort of money to watch guys play a very glorified game of catch. So, why is it still so damn expensive in an age where streaming is predicated on being less expensive — not more expensive — than the ways of the past?
In all likelihood, it comes down to YouTube needing to maximize the investment, and the NFL not wanting to devalue the product. Sure, the NFL is getting with the times by getting its games on streaming through Amazon (which has the rights to Thursday Night Football) and YouTube TV. At the same time, they're keeping one foot firmly in the past with prohibitively expensive pricing that alienates a tragically huge percentage of the league's loyal fans. It's a tragedy, and one can only hope the initial experiment fails spectacularly, forcing the price to come down for the 2024/2025 season.