NFL Sunday Ticket Is Fixing Its Biggest Product Flaw This Season

NFL Sunday Ticket is getting a major upgrade heading into the second season of Google’s seven-year, $14 billion streaming deal for the league’s out-of-market media rights package.

YouTube and YouTube TV will now feature more customizable multiview NFL game options on Sunday afternoons. Custom multiviews didn’t exist at all during Google’s debut season with Sunday Ticket. Last year, only select combinations were available for Sunday Ticket users throughout the early and late Sunday game windows. DirecTV, which last had Sunday Ticket during the 2022 NFL season, offered a single multiview option each week. 

But starting with Week 1 next month, Sunday Ticket users will be able to select almost any combination they please of two, three, or four games, or NFL RedZone. The caveat is that local game broadcasts, which are available to subscribers who have local channels through YouTube TV, will be limited to fewer combinations. How limited? That remains to be seen.

Still, that should be music to the ears of NFL viewers hoping to bounce around between the often chaotic early window of NFL games, which includes eight matchups on Sept. 8 and 10 on Sept. 15.

Multiview is currently available on TVs, mobile devices, and tablets, for YouTube TV members. For Sunday Ticket subscribers on YouTube, multiview will be available on mobile devices and tablets, in addition to TVs, at the start of the NFL season. The base price of Sunday Ticket increased by $30 this month, up to $379 for YouTube TV subscribers, and $479 for the à la carte option via YouTube.

Google is not part of the NFL Sunday Ticket lawsuit that captivated football fans this summer. After a jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, ordering the league to pay $4.7 billion, the case’s judge overturned that verdict that would have been tripled to $14.1 billion under antitrust laws. The plaintiffs in that case can still try to take it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. If the NFL were to ultimately lose, Google’s Sunday Ticket deal could be affected. The plaintiffs have argued the package is artificially overpriced and that the league should not be allowed to sell all of its out-of-market games as one single package.