YouTube TV announced its NFL Sunday Ticket pricing tiers and it’s safe to say that fans everywhere are united in their outrage.
Here’s the only time you’ll probably hear this: YouTube TV really did something special with its NFL Sunday Ticket pricing.
It’s not that the company made games more affordable for fans, or utilized its streaming platform to make games easier to access. Instead, YouTube did something completely unique in making its new NFL Sunday Ticket pricing so outrageous that it has united fans across the league — regardless of allegiance or rivalry lines — in hating what they’re doing.
Packers fans joining hands with Vikings fans, Steelers and Bengals fans coming together, Chiefs and Raiders fans rallying behind one another, all in the name of being disgusted with YouTube.
That’s certainly something to marvel at.
It’s also where any positive mention seems to end.
YouTube TV announced prices for NFL Sunday Ticket this season and fans were…let’s just say they weren’t thrilled.
To be fair, the prices are in the range of what DirecTV was charging for Sunday Ticket but those prices were also outrageous. One hope that fans had was that YouTube becoming the home of Sunday Ticket would make games more accessible but it seems like the DirecTV model was just copied and pasted over.
To that point, fans were most displeased and voiced their anger on Twitter.
Best memes and tweets reacting to new NFL Sunday Ticket pricing
YouTube announced the new NFL Sunday Ticket pricing with a pretty huge caveat. Right out of the gate the company is using its new deal with the league to leverage new subscribers to YouTube TV.
- $349 for YouTube TV subscribers vs. $449 for regular users
- $389 to bundle RedZone for subscribers while regular users pay $489
Big yikes.
You’ve probably heard of YouTube TV but mostly from fans complaining about how they were promised access to local broadcasts only to have them blacked out. It makes sense for YouTube to leverage the NFL Sunday Ticket deal to try and compete with Hulu and Fubo as a live TV streamer, but fans aren’t happy about being caught in the middle.
this is disgusting
— Alexis Kraft (@TheAlexisKraft) April 11, 2023
Everyone will have to sell their sibling to afford your absurd NFL Sunday Ticket prices.
— nicholas (@rickyspinn91) April 11, 2023
So nobody is buying the nfl Sunday ticket on @YouTubeTV right because those prices are just fcking wild lmaoooo
— Yung Dougle$$ (@DougieFresh0588) April 11, 2023
Youtube is legit fleecing us for NFL Sunday Ticket. FAWK!
— J (@BleedSteel4L) April 11, 2023
looks like I'm not gonna have NFL Sunday ticket. pic.twitter.com/xASK1DaMaH
— Steve (@Steve17bScuba) April 11, 2023
Happy YouTube Killed NFL Sunday Ticket Day
— Lenny (@Lenny_Tweets) April 11, 2023
I never thought I’d see the day where i wish #directtv still had NFL sunday ticket. What an absolute ripoff to try and stream your favorite team if they’re across the country. Everyone who had a say in this decision should be ashamed. I will not be buying. ✌️#boycottsundayticket pic.twitter.com/3BxWASJplj
— Mike (@Mike45878887) April 11, 2023
Me after sacrificing my families food and water for NFL Sunday ticket pic.twitter.com/ksuO0zfp7P
— NFL Memes (@NFLHateMemes) April 11, 2023
I never thought I’d see the day where i wish #directtv still had NFL sunday ticket. What an absolute ripoff to try and stream your favorite team if they’re across the country. Everyone who had a say in this decision should be ashamed. I will not be buying. ✌️#boycottsundayticket pic.twitter.com/3BxWASJplj
— Mike (@Mike45878887) April 11, 2023
me to directv pic.twitter.com/9UgpR8OwlP
— Ryan Disdier (@ryandisdier) April 11, 2023
Of course, it’s unlikely that YouTube will care about any of this immediate backlash as there will still be plenty of people who do pay for NFL Sunday Ticket. There’s also a chance that prices are adjusted in the years to come, as this is the first season YouTube will be the home of NFL games after decades of DirecTV owning the rights.
Then again, you’d think a smart business model would be to lure folks in before raising prices as this plan suggests prices might go up in the years to come.
What the real takeaway here is, and the feature that might pop up down the road, is that YouTube isn’t offering team-specific packages. That’s what most fans were hoping the streaming service would take advantage of that DirecTV never did and seems to be a successful model for the NBA and MLB with its own streaming services.
Time will tell, but the initial feedback on YouTube taking over as the new home of NFL Sunday Ticket seems to be more disappointment than excitement.