OT: Is anyone paying this much for NFL football?
My gut feeling is its priced wrong because many people are going to scoff at that and turn to illegal streaming. Feels like a lower price generates more revenue overall but I could be wrong
I just paid for it because here in Texas I never get to see the Lions play except on Thanksgiving. Now I'll be able to see them every week.
I live in Tennessee so it is the Titans and Falcons every single Sunday. Sometimes the Panthers. I have a sports bar that I go to every Sunday and as the only Lions fan I feel obligated to have a presence there. Never done the math but pretty sure I spend more than $350 a year at that place.
Yep, the question isn't so much the OP, it's those of us who have left their home state and can't watch the home team.
Next question is, are the LIONS worth $350 to watch go 9-8 and miss the playoffs.
April 20th, 2023 at 10:22 AM ^
I paid $250 every year to watch them during the Millen years, including the 0-16 season. I still saved more money doing that over going to a sports bar.
April 20th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
I watched parts of every game that year too. But that torture was free.
I'd never go to a sports bar (just for a game), so that isn't part of the calculation for me.
April 20th, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
splitting the cost with two others is totally worth the $83.33 we will each pay
*living in KY with TN television means rare chances for the Lions*
FYI the YouTube offering cuts down to 2 simultaneous screens. You may be watching together in which case not an issue.
Call me naive, but this is the first time in my 39 years on this Earth where I am finally convinced that the Lions have the right coaching, management and players... so I am more excited about them than I have ever been. Previous years I wouldn't even think about paying money to watch them play, but I am ALL IN this year.
I have no plans of paying that much but give Google a year or two to figure out how to suck out personal data they can sell and the price should go down, but it won't.
For us not in Mich we have been paying that and more for Sunday ticket for years. If you don't pay, you get Thanksgiving and that's it. Yes, I know I've been paying to watch them lose.
To add to the OP - This is nothing new. People and businesses have been paying this for years - the only change is the provider switching from DirectTV to YTTV.
Growing up in Cleveland and later Detroit I never got too attached to a specific NFL team so no Sunday ticket for me, but if a similar package was the only way to catch M football……
It was for a bit 20 ish years ago - ESPN Gameday. One of the few budget fights I won with the then-Mrs.but if a similar package was the only way to catch M football……
I remember that. You could buy the season or sometimes you could buy the out of market game just for the day. Seems it was $14 a day? Not sure what the full season cost. You would have to wait until the "coverage map" came out mid week to see if Michigan was going to be on in Virginia, about 50/50 hit rate.
April 20th, 2023 at 10:25 AM ^
Being stuck in the DMV in the 2000s was rough. ACC football was painful to the eyes. I'd have to wait for the ACC game to end and hope they'd switch to our game late. The other option was sitting in my car after 7pm to catch the game on WJR.
April 20th, 2023 at 11:20 AM ^
Ah yes, I'd buy the USA Today on Fridays (well, I typically bought that newspaper every day in its heyday) simply to see the map.
Virginia was the ACC/Big Ten border, yes. But Detroit had its own form of absurdity. ABC would have Noon games from time to time, and often it would be something I'd want to see. But WXYZ would pre-empt the national broadcast, they'd instead show the syndicated ESPN+ Big Ten game (stuff like Iowa and Indiana!).
So, I'd purchase the ESPN package, but it was a 50/50 chance as to whether ESPN blacked the game out, because it was supposedly on the local ABC affiliate! Throw a dart! Nothing like spending the $20 to literally get the screen that said "broadcast unavailable here, tune in to see it on your local ABC affiliate."
When I was a kid in Los Angeles back in the 80s and 90s my parents and I would drive up to 45 minutes away each Saturday to watch every Michigan game in some random sports bar with the alumni club of LA. Might have been cheaper in the long run to have bought a satellite though we probably couldnt really afford that up front cost, heh.
I got Sunday ticket for free one year and never watched it. After spending 3-4 hours watching Michigan on Saturday I don’t have more than an hour or so to watch NFL on Sunday and usually just catch a few minutes of my local team. Red zone is a lot of fun though.
Exactly. I didn't used to watch every Michigan game. West Michigan and the like are still tape delay for me now.
But when I moved out of state I couldn't watch the Lions at all.
Makes no damn sense either. 132 college teams and I never miss a game. 32 pro teams and I get 1 a year.
April 20th, 2023 at 10:32 AM ^
I have DirecTV and, for some reason, I have gotten the Sunday Ticket for free the past two years. Was a real game changer for me. I love the NFL and I was able to watch all of the weekend's great matchups.
With the move to YTTV, I will obviously no longer have this access. I am a bit bummed, to be honest. I watched a lot of NFL games these past two seasons.
In Michigan, it is the Lions, which is great. However, when they are no playing in a given time slot, it is the Bears, and sometimes the Packers or Vikings. Yuck.
How much did it cost last year?
No way I would pay that. But I’m also not a huge NFL fan. I actually just paused my YouTube tv for 4 months. Will turn it back on when college football starts. And may actually look for different options as the price just went up again.
The only time I ever had Sunday Ticket is when I got it with a Madden game for Xbox. I'm not sure if they ever had or ever will have that promo again, but it was a good deal - you just had to buy a special edition of the game that cost $40 more than the regular edition. Plus it had Barry Sanders on the cover.
Do you guys know how many people live outside of their teams market. $250 is nothing for a 6 month long season. Plus you can stream on your computer while traveling, record games, etc. plus there are also businesses who will buy it. TONS of businesses will buy it. And no the price will not go down moving forward. The NFL is king.
I'm a fan of an out of market team and gamble on a ton of NFL, so I actually like the price point!
I was paying $120/yr for the directtv Sunday ticket app but it is brutal to use and limited to 1 stream. I like YTTV's interface and now they're offering 2 streams, so not a difficult call for me.
April 20th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
I could be wrong but I assume the business price is a lot higher than $250/year. I have a friend who looked into buying a PPV fight for the local bar to broadcast and it was over a thousand dollars IIRC. I'm assuming your average sports bar/restaurant or barber shop or whatever will have to pay ~10x the in home price.
I quit watching the NFL a while ago and had interest in rejoining the fandom when Hutchinson was drafted by the Lions. Unfortunately, I live too close to Chicago and will not pay such crazy prices so my Sundays remain mostly free from the No Fun League.
I could be wrong but i'm willing to bet that part of the reason your NFL fandom waned is that you were watching on the wrong day of the week...
He's watching from Mars which has a 24 hour time difference.
[Insert Mind Blown gif here]
I used to pay $300 for Sunday ticket so I didn't have to watch the Lions. Now I just ignore the nfl until the playoffs
I think family sharing as a first class feature is the top benefit that gets missed with YTTV compared to other platforms.
Regarding pricing, you might see how this could be beneficial for slightly higher monthly costs if you work something out with your family.
Two questions, why hasn’t the NFL figured out some sort of TV deal that shows all of their games, similar to College?
Why doesn’t YTV have an option to buy games individually?
Well, it is the same crap cable used to do where they make you pay for things you don't. It is just with a wide array of options now. You have some option but when you add up to what you want to watch and if you watch specific channels, the cost is not far off from what I used to pay for cable. I have some cool choices but that is the only benefit. Cost wise, it is not that beneficial if you watch more than regular channels.
When you consider what networks paid to broadcast all B1G games, imagine the type of money the NFL could drive if they wanted every game available nationally.
The B1G has 14 teams, the NFL 32 so you'd have double the number of games each week and each NFL game would draw significantly more viewers than most B1G games. You could have games broadcast on all 4 major OTA networks, plus ESPN & FS1, maybe someone like Turner would get involved and then streaming services too. Those would be some massive TV contracts and it's surprising the NFL hasn't found a way to make this work.
I would assume people that don't live in their favorite teams local market and gamblers are the target audience.
I'm waiting for the schedule release next month. Living in the Twin Cities, I'm guaranteed 3 Lions games a season. If, as I suspect, they will be featured prominently on the prime time national telecasts this year, I might be able to see almost half their games for free.
I'm not sure I'd ever consider paying full freight for Sunday Ticket though. Red Zone is cheaper and more efficient.
I've never paid for NFL TV package but am heavily considering it this year as I am very very very cautiously optimistic the Lions have a shot at winning the North and making the playoffs. As an out of state fan Not sure what other choice I have but to pay.
The local watering hole. If you get stupid and get caught driving home that would surely exceed the price of The Ticket.
Hell setting in a bar every Sun would be more expensive then just shelling out for it.
The local watering hole. If you get stupid and get caught driving home that would surely exceed the price of The Ticket.
Hell setting in a bar every Sun would be more expensive then just shelling out for it.
/sorry boys, sticky button.
Oof. Was finally planning on biting that bullet this year now that the Lions look promising. Might reconsider.
I'm a fan of YouTube TV. I will consider it since I never get to watch the NFL games that I want.
Does anyone know how easy it would be to share? Might split this with a friend who lives elsewhere.
I'm doing it this year (haven't started yet) with 2 other guys, who did it previously with just them splitting. I'm advised it won't be problematic from a # of screens/multiple locations standpoint. Even after adding the Sunday Ticket package, it's south of $40/mo each.
Prior to this pending arrangement, given that our household watches so little non-sports live TV and that YTTV base package doesn't show Tigers games, I used to pause my subscription from end of March through end of August. Hard to justify $70+/mo over the summer and if I weren't splitting it, there's no way I'd fork out 250 bucks extra for Sunday Ticket.
As much as I dislike YTTV's recent price creep, I really appreciate how easy they've made it to pause the subscription. Also how lightly they're policing the account sharing. I wouldn't be surprised to see that latter aspect change, but for now, Saul Good, man.
The regular games are generally enough NFL for me, I'm busy enough on Sundays that I don't really devote time to watching.
If I'm going to pick a day to watch excessive amounts of football it's definitely going to be Saturday.
I enjoyed watching NFL ticket as a perk of my AT&T account, but if it dies it dies.
I drop YTTV during the off season then I'll pick it back up for college football. I will do Redzone and catch broadcast games. I can't see paying that much for Ticket.
I think I did see a promo showing a quad screen setup on YTTV. If I had cable that could be fun but streaming is to slow to channel hop.
by the time Sunday rolls around, i'm usually football'd out from watching Michigan and other college football. The nationally televised games are enough for me...and I generally only watch Sunday Night Football anyway. So i am certainly not paying for that.
Would I have $14.70 a game to watch my Lions since I am out of market?
$3.67 a quarter.
The math is easy for me.
Yes.