NFL Sunday Ticket is the magical key to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon NFL live stream. But this year, things are different.
Yes, for those who missed the headlines: YouTube TV picked up Sunday Ticket from DirecTV. It offers unlimited streams inside your household, and YouTube TV is also bringing condensed game replays in as well. And if you have a Google TV, Google is integrating Sunday Ticket right into the homescreen, making it easier than ever to watch.
NFL Sunday Ticket provides all of the above for a single per-season fee, regardless of what local games are available. This is, of course, because NFL Sunday Ticket only shows you out-of-market games. For local games, you'll still need to stick to your local channels (subject to blackouts).
Here's how to get signed up for NFL Sunday Ticket, along with everything else you need to know.
NFL Sunday Ticket TV: Pricing
For a standalone NFL Sunday Ticket TV subscription, you'll want to sign up through YouTube Primetime Channels. Unfortunately, If you haven't already signed up, you'll need to pay full price. While YouTube offered discounts to begin the season those have now gone away for Week 3 on.
That means you'll need to spend either $449 to just get NFL Sunday Ticket for the 2023 NFL season or $489 to also get access to NFL RedZone, though you do get a seven-day free trial with either option. This is a one-time fee for the entire season — though in many states you'll be able to opt for a four-month monthly payment plan that costs $112.25 a month. If you sign up now, you're automatically enrolled in autorenewal for the 2024-25 NFL season, so make sure to cancel your automatic renewal if you don't want to commit to next season just yet.
For a limited time though, DirecTV is offering NFL Sunday Ticket for free to new DirecTV customers, despite no longer being the home of NFL Sunday Ticket. There are some caveats to this offer — it reimburses you for your subscription rather than paying for it at the time of purchase. But if you want NFL Sunday Ticket for free it's a good option to consider.
If you're currently subscribed to YouTube TV though, or planning to make the switch to YouTube's cable TV alternative, you'll sign up for Sunday Ticket using your YouTube TV account rather than through YouTube Primetime Channels. The good news is this will still save you some money! Right now, you can get NFL Sunday Ticket for just $349 or add NFL RedZone for just an additional $40 ($389 in total). This is also eligible for the monthly payment plan in most states — $87.25 a month for just Sunday Ticket and $97.25 a month if you decide to add RedZone.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | NFL Sunday Ticket | NFL Sunday Ticket w/ RedZone |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube TV subscribers pay: | $349 | $389 |
| YouTube Primetime Channels subscribers pay: | $449 | $489 |
NFL Sunday Ticket: Student pricing
Are you a college-bound NFL junkie on a budget? Good news! YouTube TV is continuing to offer a student discount similar to the one that had been offered by DirecTV.
Students eligible for the student discount can buy an NFL Sunday Ticket subscription from YouTube Primetime Channels for $109 and can even bundle Sunday Ticket with NFL RedZone for just $10 more. Students can not sign up for Sunday Ticket via YouTube TV and are limited to one device and one concurrent stream at a time.
To be eligible for the student plan, you just need to be 18 years of age or older, be enrolled as a student at an accredited college or university and be able to be verified through SheerID, the verification tool that YouTube is using for the student discount.
NFL Sunday Ticket: Where to watch
Whether you just dropped cable or are about to move into a new dorm room, you can stream Sunday Ticket on just about any device that connects to Wi-Fi. YouTube has said that NFL Sunday Ticket will work on the YouTube and YouTube TV mobile apps.
For those subscribing through YouTube Primetime Channels, you'll use the YouTube app and web platform to watch NFL Sunday Ticket. If you subscribe through YouTube TV, you'll use that platform and its apps instead. However, real-time NFL highlights will be available to everyone through the YouTube Shorts tab, which will allow Sunday Ticket subscribers to go from highlights to live games with just a tap or click.
That includes iOS and Android devices, Windows PCs, streaming boxes such as Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku and Android TV devices as well as game consoles such as Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. And smart TVs with a YouTube or YouTube TV app will work as well.
NFL Sunday Ticket: Features
Aside from giving you access to every Sunday out-of-market game (excluding night games), there are a few other perks to getting NFL Sunday Ticket that YouTube has announced.
First, multiview is going to provide users with multiple options to watch two to four games at once. It will even offer options that combine your local games with your Sunday Ticket out-of-market games so you don't have to abandon your local team to enjoy your extra games.
And if you have RedZone, YouTube says it will offer multiview options that have RedZone as one of the two to four games. That means you could be watching your local team, two other games and RedZone — all at once. The only downside? YouTube curates these multiview offerings. You can't just create your own combinations.
There's also a new live chat that will be brand-new to the 2023 season. This allows fans to interact as they watch the games in a way they couldn't before with DirecTV. YouTube says it also plans to integrate more interactive features like NFL Shop support and more.
You'll get a couple of options for watching highlights with Sunday Ticket. First is catching up with key plays, which allows you to catch up to a game already in progress through a playlist of all the big highlights. I (Malcolm) personally use this feature when watching sports on YouTube TV all the time, and it's one of my favorite ways to watch games when I'm busy.
Then there are real-time highlights through YouTube Shorts. YouTube says that there will be real-time highlights for every NFL game this season on the Shorts tab. Even better, if you click the red “Live” ring on the NFL channel avatar in the Shorts player, it will take you to the game live — provided you have NFL Sunday Ticket.
And finally, if you have a Google TV, Google is giving your viewing experience an upgrade. NFL Sunday Ticket will integrate into your homescreen, showing you games and highlights right as you open up the user interface. And if you have YouTube TV, Google TV will even integrate the games into your Live tab so they're easy to find while browsing what's on TV.
- Read more: I spent the weekend watching NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV — this feature makes it worth it
NFL Sunday Ticket: Does it cover the playoffs?
Unfortunately, no. Sunday Ticket only covers regular season, Sunday afternoon games that are out of your market. If you want playoff games, you can subscribe to a streaming service such as Sling TV or YouTube TV, both of which give you access to NFL Playoff channels such as FOX, ABC and CBS. You can also pick up an HD antenna to get those same channels over the air.
NFL Sunday Ticket Week 4 schedule
All times listed are in Eastern Time. Local market blackout restrictions apply
- Miami Dolphins vs Buffalo Bills @ 1 p.m. ET (CBS/Paramount Plus)
- Minnesota Vikings vs Carolina Panthers @ 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Denver Broncos vs Chicago Bears @ 1 p.m. ET (CBS/Paramount Plus)
- Baltimore Ravens vs Cleveland Browns @ 1 p.m. ET (CBS/Paramount Plus)
- Pittsburgh Steelers vs Houston Texans @ 1 p.m. ET (CBS/Paramount Plus)
- Los Angeles Rams vs Indianapolis Colts @ 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints @ 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Washington Commanders vs Philadelphia Eagles @ 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Cincinnati Bengals cs Tennessee Titans @ 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Las Vegas Raiders vs Los Angeles Chargers @ 4:05 p.m. ET (CBS/Paramount Plus)
- New England Patriots vs Dallas Cowboys @ 4:25 p.m. ET (FOX)
- Arizona Cardinals vs San Francisco 49ers @ 4:25 p.m. ET (FOX)
