The 2026 NFL Season is just days away, and we’ve reached the time of year where many of us claim we aren’t getting NFL Sunday Ticket this year, before eventually swallowing our pride and forking over the $400 once again. If you’re reading this without a Sunday Ticket subscription, that means this year is different. After sifting through 16 unique Sunday Ticket Offers, I also gathered a couple better “secret menu” offers to help you get the best deal available on NFL Sunday Ticket at a fraction of the price even as a returning customer.
What is Sunday Ticket?
Sunday Ticket is the NFL’s out-of-market package, most comparable to NBA League Pass and MLB.TV. The NFL distribution model is unique when compared to others but this package solves the same problem. Every team only has no more than a handful of national games, and participating team’s home markets are the only true certainty for a team being televised on their local CBS/FOX affiliate on a weekly basis. This doesn’t mean there wont ever be a day where you can watch the Falcons on LA’s FOX affiliate, but it’s a losing bet to ma NFL restrictions themselves don’t always guarantee you won’t have access to your favorite team, but if the nearest metro area to you is not the one belonging to the team you want to watch chances are you will need Sunday Ticket.
What does NFL Sunday Ticket Include?
Nationally every market will have NFL games on their local CBS/FOX affiliates so NFL Sunday Ticket fills that gap with any games that aren’t being covered locally on it 1PM ET and 4PM ET time slots., but that’s it. No Sunday Night Football on NBC and no Saturday games. Everything else is owned by a national window, capping this package at about 200 games this season.
What’s not included?
As it is with everything there’s always a catch, but on top of requiring your local FOX/CBS/NBC affiliates (available over the air) you still need Prime Video, Netflix, Peacock (at least once), NFL Network, ABC, and ESPN for the 9 games that won’t be simulcasted on ABC.
Where it fits:
For an out-of-market fan this is the foundation layer as no team has more than 5 nationally broadcasted games. The plan itself also lacks flexibility (cancel/pausing your subscription) to save money. Our streaming calculator can help you build a plan to for your viewing plans if you only care about watching a particular team, and we can certainly find you windows to save money on other services, once you pay for Sunday Ticket theres not much flexibility.
If you’re out-of-market it’s the only real solution, period. For that reason we always recommend that you find a way to save money when you subscribe. With a discount you can cut your exposure in half or better. But if your disposable income allows it, why not purchase?
Where it doesn’t fit:
I think the price should be the key determinant, because in most cases a fan either only cares about their own teams games (and maybe Redzone), or they care about every game in the Fall. Unfortunately for me, I fall into the latter of the two. You still get games without it, but it’s a lot of the more prestige brands like the Dallas Cowboys, SF 49ers, or more recently the Kansas City Chiefs.
Pricing Options for NFL Sunday Ticket:
YouTube provides 16 different combinations of ways to watch but realistically there’s only 6 different prices:
- $119 – Student Plan – ID.me verification required, limited to one stream
- $198 – Teachers/Veterans/First Responders/Medicine – Teachers / Veterans or Active Military, First Responders & Medical Community – Standalone
- $204 – YouTube Premium Subscriber – first time NFLST Subscriber
- $240 – New Users – Bundling with the Base Plan
- $378 – Returning Users Who Bundle
- $480 – Standalone – Unbundled
The Teachers and Veterans one isn’t listed on YouTube’s site nor is it well advertised, but after doing some research I was eventually able to hunt it down.
Recommended Offers:
- $236 – Verizon Wireless Customer with a qualifying MyPlan or FIOS
- Expires: 9/3
- $236 – Best Buy Plus ($30/yr) or Best Buy Total ($99/yr) Members
Verizon has an offer that allows you to get it free but that obviously requires a new contract. Unless you genuinely plan on switching i cannot ethically make that recommendation to sign up. What I found great about both of these deals is that there isn’t a returning customer in the United States that isn’t $30 away from being eligible for these offers. Our Verizon Wireless post talks about different ways to qualify without a purchase which as a Verizon customer I honestly feel it’s owed to me at this point.
These two offers are core to keep costs under control this year. If you are interested in accessing every NFL game in 2026 for under $500, then keep following along for more.
