NFL Sunday Ticket: Watch Any Out-of-Market NFL Game

Watching NFL teams outside your region isn’t easy. NFL Sunday Ticket was created to address this. Below, I review the service and show you how it works.

In a hurry? Here are your two best options:

• Subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket to get access to the Sunday regular season day games that are outside of your market area. The cheapest way for non-students to get it is via YouTube or Youtube TV for as little as $349 for the season.
• Or skip the Sunday Ticket subscription, and watch out-of-market NFL games with a VPN. My top choice is ExpressVPN.

NFL Sunday Ticket Is for Out-of-Market Games

If you are a fan of your local team, the NFL has you covered. You’ll get to watch every game they play this season on a local station — either CBS or Fox. You don’t need NFL Sunday Ticket to watch your local team’s games.

But if you are a fan of a team that’s not local — for example, in a different state — their games probably won’t appear on your local broadcasts unless that team is playing a local team. Games that aren’t aired locally are called out-of-market games.

TV Channels That Air In-Market Sunday Games

On a typical weekend during the NFL season, there are about a dozen games. But not all games played are televised in every location.

On Sunday afternoons, fans will have access to two early daytime games and two late daytime games, for a total of four games each viewer can watch. Early NFL games start at roughly 1:00 pm and late games at roughly 4:00 pm:

NFL Sunday afternoon, in-market (local team) games are broadcast on either CBS or Fox, depending on which conference your team is in:

The nationally-televised night games are also considered in-market games:

Because only 4 Sunday daytime games are aired locally, there will be roughly eight out-of-market NFL games that any given viewer will not be able to see because they are not shown in the local TV market.

How Can I Watch Sunday Out-of-Market Games?

NFL Sunday Ticket is the only way to guarantee access to all out-of-market games in the United States. (Outside of the US, you’ll want to consult our NFL Game Pass guide instead.)

As of 2023, Sunday Ticket is available to cord-cutters only through either YouTube or YouTube TV.

Because NFL Sunday Ticket is only an out-of-market service, it doesn’t include in-market games or primetime games played on Sunday, Monday, or Thursday night.

It also doesn’t include games that involve your local NFL team(s).

So you still need cable, a live TV streaming service, or a digital antenna to watch local games.

NFL Sunday Ticket Features

Before deciding on a plan, here’s a cheatsheet showing which games are covered by each plan:

Subscribers can add NFL RedZone for $40. It is a special channel that allows fans to effectively watch all the Sunday daytime games at once. For most NFL fans, it’s a credible alternative to Sunday Ticket itself. But for the fan who wants it all, the two go well together.

In addition to providing access to all out-of-market Sunday daytime NFL games, Sunday Ticket offers the following features:

What Is Multiview?

Multiview is a special feature with your subscription that allows you to watch up to 4 games on NFL Sunday Ticket at the same time. It is similar to the NFL RedZone Octobox except that you can watch the entire games. Doing so only counts as a single stream so if you are watching outside your home, you are covered.

NFL Sunday Ticket Prices and Plans

NFL Sunday Ticket is available in four different ways — from YouTube TV or YouTube Primetime Channels — either with or without NFL RedZone.

Note: To get NFL Sunday Ticket with YouTube TV, you must sign-up for the base service, which is $72.99/month. That adds an extra $291.96 to the price, but the base service includes 100+ live TV channels.

How to Get NFL Sunday Ticket

So what are your Sunday Ticket options? If you are already a YouTube TV subscriber, things are pretty simple. NFL Sunday Ticket is $100 less expensive for such fans. And it means you will also have access to all the other local and primetime games except for Thursday Night Football, which is exclusive to Amazon Prime Video.

Alternatively, you can get NFL Sunday Ticket directly from YouTube. If you do so, you will be missing out on all the primetime games as well as all of the games that appear in your local market.

To get around this limitation, you can sign up with another live TV streaming service like Fubo or DIRECTV STREAM. Or, depending on where you live, you can set up a digital antenna. This is by far the cheapest way to go.

Whether to get RedZone is a matter of taste. It does allow you to stay up-to-date on all the games and then switch over to NFL Sunday Ticket to watch in full when the action dictates. But given that Sunday Ticket allows you to watch 4 games at once, RedZone seems like overkill.

I recommend getting either NFL Sunday Ticket or NFL RedZone but not both. However, for just $40 more per season, you may find it nice to supplement Sunday Ticket.

Is It Better To Get NFL Sunday Ticket From YouTube or YouTube TV?

It depends. NFL Sunday Ticket is more expensive ($449) if you get the standalone version from YouTube. But that is more than made up for by the fact that the YouTube TV base plan costs $72.99/month. For the four months of the regular season, your total cost would be $640.96.

There is a ton of NFL that isn’t included in Sunday Ticket — local and primetime games. So generally, you would only get Sunday Ticket through YouTube if you are getting live TV from another provider like Fubo or DIRECTV STREAM.

Is There a Student Discount Plan for NFL Sunday Ticket?

Yes. Eligible students can save with a Student Plan for NFL Sunday Ticket. It is $199 for the whole season.

To get student status, verification is required to be eligible for purchase — like an official student ID. There are, however, some minor limitations to the NFL Sunday Ticket Student Plan. So keep that in mind.

Devices You Can Use to Live Stream NFL Sunday Ticket

NFL Sunday Ticket runs on the YouTube and YouTube TV apps. These run on pretty much any device you can think of:

Alternative to NFL Sunday Ticket: Use a VPN

There is no doubt that NFL Sunday Ticket is the best way to watch out-of-market NFL games. But it is not the only way. For those who are balking at the cost of Sunday Ticket, you can consider this alternative: Use a VPN.

Cost Comparison: A VPN Is a Cheaper Option

VPNs used to be intimidating to the average football fan. Now, though, they are as simple to use as choosing a city and pressing a button.

NFL Sunday Ticket costs between $350 and $500 for the entire 5-month season, depending on the plan. That’s $70 – $100 per month. On top of that, you’ll need a subscription to YouTube TV or another service.

Here’s the cost difference between using a VPN and buying an NFL Sunday Ticket (non-student) subscription:

Our Choice

You can get NFL Sunday Ticket with either YouTube TV or YouTube alone. If you want it, I highly recommend that you get it with YouTube TV. Otherwise, you will be missing out on many games — including all of the playoffs.

FAQs

What are NFL blackouts?

Blackouts occur when an NFL game is not availablve via broadcast TV channels in the local TV market — usually because the stadium hosting the game didn’t sell out. The NFL has suspended blackouts since 2015 – with one exception: NFL Sunday Ticket. Games carried locally are blacked out with Sunday Ticket. So are Sunday daytime games on CBS, Fox, and night games, as well as international and holiday games are blacked out on Sunday Ticket.

Is NFL Sunday Ticket the same through YouTube Prime Channels and YouTube TV?

Yes, NFL Sunday Ticket is exactly the same whether you get it with YouTube TV or YouTube Prime Channels (except for the cost). However, since YouTube TV is a full cable replacement live TV streaming service, it also offers CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and NFL Network, which all air many games not included with Sunday Ticket.

Can I watch preseason games with NFL Sunday Ticket?

No. NFL Sunday Ticket applies exclusively to the regular season so it does not allow you to watch any preseason games. This is a bit strange in that most of these games only air locally. However, you can watch all the out-of-market NFL preseason games with NFL+ for just $6.99/month.

Does NFL Sunday Ticket allow me to watch the Super Bowl?

No, NFL Sunday Ticket doesn’t include NFL playoff games because they are broadcast nationally. It also doesn’t include the Super Bowl for the same reason. To watch the NFL playoffs, you will need a live TV streaming service. My top choice is Fubo, but if you are signing up for Sunday Ticket, you may prefer to get it through YouTube TV.

How many NFL Sunday Ticket streams can I watch at the same time?

That depends on how many TVs you have. Whether you get it through YouTube Primetime Channels or YouTube TV, you can watch unlimited NFL Sunday Ticket streams at home. So if you want to set up 8 TVs in your living room, you can watch a different game on each one, assuming you have the bandwidth. You can also stream on up to 2 devices away from home but only for household members.

What is NFL Sunday Ticket Max?

When NFL Sunday Ticket was part of DIRECTV, the Max plan was a special bundle that included NFL RedZone and Fantasy Zone. Now that it’s under YouTube, you can get Sunday Ticket with or without RedZone. But they do have a product called NFL Sunday Ticket Max. It is also a bundle but the “Max” now refers to Max — previously known as HBO Max.

Can I cancel NFL Sunday Ticket?

Yes, but you won’t get a partial refund. NFL Sunday Ticket package is season-long so it cannot be canceled for a refund. You pay upfront and get access to it for the rest of the NFL season. If you get it through YouTube TV, you are also contractually obligated to continue your monthly subscription ($72.99/month) throughout the season.

What is NFLSundayTicket.TV?

NFLSundayTicket.TV used to be the streaming version of NFL Sunday Ticket. It was only available to people who couldn’t get DIRECTV Satellite. This generally meant people who live in apartment buildings that didn’t allow satellite dishes. And people who lived in locations with line-of-site issues. Few people qualified.

The old website now simply redirects to the DIRECTV website. But remember, DIRECTV no longer offers Sunday Ticket. You’ll have to go through YouTube now instead.

Are there any NFL shows on NFL Sunday Ticket?

No. Now that YouTube has taken over NFL Sunday Ticket, there are no football shows exclusive to Sunday Ticket. Prior to the 2023-2024 season, DIRECTV offered shows like Fantasy Zone and Game Mix along with Sunday Ticket. Since NFL Sunday Ticket subscription is now exclusively on YouTube and YouTube TV, these shows no longer exist.

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Frank Moraes

I am a Senior Content Editor at Hotdog.com, specializing in sports streaming and regional programming issues. With a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and extensive experience in remote sensing technology, including early video streaming, I bring a unique technical perspective to the streaming industry.

My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.

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