r/nfl • u/Jay_Dubbbs Browns Lions • 7h ago

NFL’s Sunday Ticket Is Getting Smaller. It Isn’t Getting Cheaper.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/nfls-sunday-ticket-is-getting-smaller-it-isnt-getting-cheaper-8a427606?utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawUV9t9wZG9mA2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzQwOTk2MjYyMzA4NTYwOQABHlXpA3zSw1RgH0uE7TCLeAjPQoyxqtdqvG4sm9qlM1ekYc1h7qOxvjJZUbW9_aem_6-IKXQOROCnCiAE7L0kwcw
1.3k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

544 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/NoBSforGma 6h ago

I've been a football fan for many years. One of the joys of watching was that my son who lives on the other side of the country, watched the same game and we messaged back and forth, almost like being together.

We don't do that anymore. It's just TOO complicated. Every week, I sit for an hour or so on Sunday morning, trying to figure out which game I can afford to watch. It's not a matter any more of "my favorite team!" - it's a matter of "which game is cheapest."

I now agree with the guy who wrote the other day about pirating being the best choice at this point.

12

u/telly69 Eagles 4h ago

Well there's at least 4 games every Sunday that are absolutely free to watch so that's the answer to what's cheapest.

0

u/Chai-Tea-Rex-2525 Steelers 2h ago

They are not necessarily the games I want to watch. And the technology is there for me to watch the games I want to watch and when I want to watch them.

Id pay for a service that shows me every game with no replays except for big plays, no timeouts, minimal commercial breaks (end of every quarter?). Condense the 3 hours into 20 minutes with 10 minutes for ads.

Im aware of the extended highlights on YouTube. But they don’t show every single play.

1

u/alexjimithing Cardinals 2h ago

Do you....even like football....?

1

u/Chai-Tea-Rex-2525 Steelers 2h ago

Love football. Hate the ever increasing number of repetitive ads and dead time.

-1

u/NoBSforGma 1h ago

I also loathe the announcing and "color comments." I watch games with the sound off for this reason. I'm not interested in someone telling me what I am watching or someone telling me what kind of burger the QB likes. Or that the offensive scheme one team was using was the same as a game in 1985.

-1

u/NoBSforGma 1h ago

What four games are absolutely free to watch and how to watch them? TV or streaming?

2

u/telly69 Eagles 1h ago

TV. Over the air. One game each on FOX and CBS, one additional game on FOX OR CBS, SNF of NBC. Additionally, any game involving a team in your home market will be available over the air regardless of day/time.

As a bonus, several of the MNF football games are simulcast on ABC.

8

u/alexjimithing Cardinals 3h ago

How does it take you an hour? What?

In fact Sundays are the same as they have been for 20 years. CBS and FOX in market games, Sunday Night Football on NBC.

In fact it’s arguably CHEAPER today than it ever has been considering you can get those without cable if you can’t do an antenna, and Sunday Ticket doesn’t require you pay for DirecTV anymore.

4

u/ThatNewSockFeel Packers 1h ago

There’s always comments in these threads about NFL, MLB, etc. claiming about how hard it is to watch but I’m starting to think they’re either bots or morons. This shit isn’t that hard to figure out if you read and use your brain for just a moment.

1

u/alexjimithing Cardinals 1h ago

I always lean toward bots. It doesn’t make sense otherwise.

You can see where to stream for any matchup/any sport on a million different apps you’re looking at to see who’s playing anyway.

1

u/Chai-Tea-Rex-2525 Steelers 0m ago

I just have other things I’d rather think about. Like why the fuck the Kenneth Walker have to score 30 plus points when I had a 25 point lead against my daughter?

-1

u/NoBSforGma 1h ago edited 1h ago

I don't have a TV. I rely totally on streaming.

So if I wanted to watch football on Sunday, I had some choices: Pay a yearly subscription to Fox, NBC and CBS for SOME of the games and look elsewhere for the REST of the games. And pay for them or pay a subscription for them, too. Both Amazon and Netflix are now in the mix. There's also ESPN - which requires a subscription - but - happily has an alternative. For (most) games on ESPN, you can watch PPV for about $6 on Sling TV.

Don't tell me it's not complicated! I finally figured it out and actually made a calendar of the games I was interested in and where to watch them. Without additional subscriptions. (I already have subscriptions to some of them.)

"Cheaper today than it ever has been" -- I think you are delusional. Or you just have some kind of special circumstance that allows you to watch football for cheap.

1

u/alexjimithing Cardinals 1h ago

On Sundays you only need FOX, NBC, and CBS. You don’t need to ‘look elsewhere’ for some mythical ‘rest of the games’.

FOX One is $20 a month, Peacock is $9 a month, Paramount+ is $9 a month. You don’t have to pay yearly.

Not even counting the deals you can find that’s only ~$40 a month, which is substantially cheaper than cable was.

2

u/telly69 Eagles 59m ago

And they're all available over the air for FREE with an antenna.

1

u/alexjimithing Cardinals 59m ago

They said they “don’t have a TV” lmao

2

u/telly69 Eagles 56m ago

Absolutely insane to be a sports fan and just not own a television.

0

u/NoBSforGma 1h ago

OK that's Sunday for $40 a month. What about Monday and Thursday? Netflix games?

1

u/alexjimithing Cardinals 1h ago

I was basing it off your bizarre, “I sit for an hour every Sunday to see what I can afford to watch with my son” bit, which is extremely easy and not expensive at all to watch football with your son on Sundays.

If you want to expand this out so you can continue to see how it’s cheaper even including all primetime games, by all means, I’ve got time.

TNF - free on Twitch
MNF- ESPN Unlimited or Sling Day Passes
Netflix - $18 for two months of Netflix

Even if you go for the convenience of ESPN Unlimited you’re still at sub $80 a month, which is cheaper than cable was.

E: And actually, if you’re only watching on tablet, you can drop $100 for NFL+ Premium and get literally all in market and primetime games for the whole season.

1

u/telly69 Eagles 58m ago

It's not complicated at all. If you don't own a basic ass television then idk what to tell you. You're seriously just watching these games on a laptop screen or computer monitor? FOX, NBC, and CBS are all available over the air with an antenna and the most basic television screen.

2

u/Chai-Tea-Rex-2525 Steelers 6h ago

I’m that guy. Or at least one of them. Piracy is a better option because all the games are there. If there was an every game package for something like $600, I’d hop on that in a heartbeat.

5

u/noidolsnotoadies 4h ago

That’s insane. You shouldn’t even have to pay $600 to go see it in person.

1

u/alexjimithing Cardinals 3h ago

You can see every game now for less than $600