This is one of the most searched questions in football streaming — and the answer trips up a lot of people who sign up expecting more than they receive. The short version: NFL Sunday Ticket is not included in YouTube TV’s monthly price. It’s a paid seasonal add-on. Here’s what that means, what it costs, who qualifies for a discount, and whether the combination is actually worth it for your situation.
These are the questions that actually drive people to search this topic. Answered directly, without the run-around.
- 1 Is NFL Sunday Ticket included with my YouTube TV subscription? No. It is not included in any YouTube TV monthly plan price. Whether you pay $64.99/month for the Sports Plan or $82.99/month for the Main Plan, NFL Sunday Ticket is not part of what you get. It is a separate seasonal add-on that you purchase on top of your YouTube TV subscription — or entirely independently through YouTube Primetime Channels without any YouTube TV plan at all.
- 2 What does NFL Sunday Ticket actually include — what games does it show? Only out-of-market Sunday afternoon regular season games — specifically the 1 PM and 4 PM ET windows on CBS and FOX. If your team is playing in your local market, that game is blacked out from Sunday Ticket and you watch it through your local CBS or FOX affiliate instead. Sunday Ticket does not include Thursday Night Football (Amazon Prime), Sunday Night Football (NBC), Monday Night Football (ESPN/ABC), any playoff games, the Super Bowl, preseason games, or any exclusive streaming games on Netflix or Peacock.
- 3 How much does Sunday Ticket cost when added to YouTube TV? New subscribers pay $240 for the season bundled with YouTube TV; returning subscribers pay $378. Early-season promotional pricing has brought new subscriber cost as low as $192 before the season starts — check the current offer at tv.youtube.com since these promos expire. The bundled price requires you to keep an active YouTube TV subscription for the entire season. If you cancel YouTube TV, you lose access to Sunday Ticket as well.
- 4 Can I get Sunday Ticket without subscribing to YouTube TV? Yes — through YouTube Primetime Channels, no YouTube TV plan is required. Standalone pricing runs $240 for new subscribers and $480 for returning ones. You watch games through the regular YouTube app on your TV, phone, or computer. The trade-off: you only get the out-of-market Sunday afternoon games — no local channels, no ESPN, no NFL Network, no Sunday Night Football. If you already get local channels another way (antenna, cable, or another streaming service), the standalone route can work well.
- 5 Are there discounts — I’ve heard military and student pricing exists? Yes, and they’re significant. The Heroes plan — available to military, veterans, first responders, medical workers, and teachers — runs $198 for the season, verified through ID.me. That’s about half what returning civilian subscribers pay. Student pricing requires verification through SheerID and is typically among the lowest available — check the current student rate at checkout since it varies season to season. Verizon customers with qualifying Simplicity mobile or home internet plans can also get Sunday Ticket free or at a discount. If you qualify for any of these, that’s where to start.
- 6 Can I cancel Sunday Ticket if I change my mind after buying? No — and this is one of the most important things to understand before purchasing. Once you buy, the season pass is non-cancellable and non-refundable. If you choose a monthly payment plan instead of a single upfront payment, you are still responsible for all remaining installments — you can’t stop paying mid-season. You can turn off auto-renewal so it doesn’t charge you again next season, but you cannot get a refund for the season you’ve already started. Read the terms before you buy; this catches people off guard every year.
- 7 Does Sunday Ticket include NFL RedZone? No — RedZone is a separate add-on. NFL RedZone (the channel that jumps between every game when teams reach the red zone, hosted by Scott Hanson) is available through YouTube TV as part of the Sports Plus add-on for $10.99/month during NFL season. You can also bundle it with Sunday Ticket at purchase for an additional $42 on top of your Sunday Ticket price. RedZone and Sunday Ticket solve different problems: RedZone is for fantasy football players and score-chasers who want highlights across all games; Sunday Ticket is for fans who want to watch one specific out-of-market game from start to finish.
- 8 What’s the total annual cost if I want YouTube TV plus Sunday Ticket? Budget roughly $1,000–$1,200 for a full football season setup. The Sports Plan at $64.99/month runs about $780/year. Add Sunday Ticket at $240 (new subscriber) or $378 (returning), and you’re at $1,020–$1,158 before adding RedZone ($66 for six months) or any other streaming services. New subscriber promos on YouTube TV itself can reduce the first year’s cost — a promotional rate of $54.99/month for the first 12 months saves $120 over the regular Sports Plan rate. Check current promotions before signing up.
Before spending money, it’s worth being completely clear on what Sunday Ticket delivers and what it doesn’t — because the gap between what people expect and what they receive has caused a lot of buyer frustration over the years.
NFL Sunday Ticket is the only legal way to stream nearly every out-of-market Sunday afternoon regular season NFL game in the United States. “Out-of-market” means games that are not being broadcast on your local CBS or FOX affiliate. If you live in Chicago and want to watch the Dallas Cowboys play in their afternoon time slot — and that game isn’t airing on your local channels — Sunday Ticket shows it to you. Every Sunday afternoon CBS and FOX regular season game that isn’t available in your area is accessible through Sunday Ticket. That covers the full 1 PM and 4 PM ET Sunday windows across the entire regular season. The Multiview feature lets you watch up to four games simultaneously on one screen, which is particularly useful on packed Sunday afternoons when multiple games you care about overlap.
- Your local team’s games when they’re airing in your market — those are blacked out from Sunday Ticket and available on your local CBS or FOX channel instead
- Thursday Night Football — that package belongs to Amazon Prime Video all season, plus select Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve games
- Sunday Night Football on NBC — that’s a separate national broadcast not covered by Sunday Ticket
- Monday Night Football on ESPN and ABC — again, national broadcast, not part of Sunday Ticket
- Playoff games or the Super Bowl — Sunday Ticket covers regular season only
- Preseason games — not included
- Exclusive streaming games on Netflix (five games in 2026 including Christmas) or Peacock’s exclusive Saturday game
- NFL RedZone — that’s a separate add-on purchase
The single most common complaint from new Sunday Ticket subscribers: “I can’t see my team’s game.” Here’s why. If you live within the broadcast market of a team that’s playing on a Sunday afternoon, that game is classified as an “in-market” game. NFL rules require that game to air on your local CBS or FOX affiliate rather than through Sunday Ticket. Sunday Ticket will show you a blackout notice for that game. The fix: tune to your local CBS or FOX channel. If you have YouTube TV’s Main Plan or Sports Plan, those local channels are included in your subscription. If you bought Sunday Ticket as a standalone Primetime Channel without YouTube TV, you’ll need a TV antenna, a separate streaming service with local channels, or cable to watch your own team play at home.
YouTube TV overhauled its plan structure in early 2026, moving from a single base plan to multiple genre-based tiers. Here’s how each one relates to NFL coverage before you add Sunday Ticket.
This is the plan most NFL fans should be on if they’re cutting the cord specifically for football. It carries all four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) for your local Sunday afternoon games and Sunday Night Football, plus ESPN and ESPN2 for Monday Night Football, plus NFL Network for mid-week programming and select NFL Network games. FS1 is also included, which matters for some playoff and shoulder-season programming. ESPN Unlimited is confirmed to be added to this plan at no extra charge in fall 2026, giving access to ESPN’s streaming library alongside live games — a meaningful addition timed to the season start.
At $64.99/month, the Sports Plan costs $18 less than the Main Plan while including every channel most football fans actually need. The trade-off is that it drops roughly 70 entertainment, news, and lifestyle channels. If your household watches The Weather Channel, HGTV, or cable news channels regularly, check the full channel list before switching from the Main Plan. NFL Sunday Ticket is available as a paid add-on to this plan.
The Main Plan is YouTube TV’s comprehensive offering — over 100 channels covering sports, entertainment, news, lifestyle, and kids programming. For NFL purposes it includes everything in the Sports Plan plus the entertainment and news channels that a broader household uses. This is the required plan if you want Sunday Ticket bundled at the lower bundle price. You must maintain an active YouTube TV subscription (Sports Plan or Main Plan) throughout the NFL season if you purchase Sunday Ticket as a bundle — canceling YouTube TV mid-season would end your Sunday Ticket access even though you’ve paid for it.
This plan is primarily for households that want lifestyle, entertainment, and local channels — not sports. It does carry local broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) for Sunday afternoon games and Sunday Night Football, and notably includes NFL Network. However, ESPN is not included. That means no Monday Night Football, no ESPN playoff games, and no ESPN Unlimited when it launches. FS1, FS2, and most other sports cable channels are absent. You can still add Sunday Ticket as an add-on to this plan, which would give you out-of-market Sunday afternoon games plus your local broadcast NFL games — but you’d need a separate solution for Monday Night Football and ESPN-exclusive content.
Sunday Ticket pricing is layered by subscriber status, purchase route, and qualifying discounts. Here is every price that currently exists, clearly organized.
If you have never subscribed to NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube or YouTube TV before, this is your entry point. Early-season promotional pricing brought the bundled price down to $192 for qualifying new subscribers — these deals are time-limited and typically expire before the season starts. The standard new subscriber price is $240. You must maintain an active YouTube TV subscription for the full season. Monthly payment plans spread the cost but all installments must be completed; you cannot cancel partway through. Adding NFL RedZone costs $42 more on top of Sunday Ticket.
If you don’t have and don’t want YouTube TV, you can purchase Sunday Ticket directly through YouTube as a Primetime Channel. You watch through the standard YouTube app on any device. Same out-of-market Sunday afternoon games, same Multiview feature, same price as the bundled new subscriber rate — but no local channels, no ESPN, no NFL Network. This route works well for cord-cutters who already get local channels through an antenna and just want the out-of-market Sunday games. Note: purchases must be made through a web browser, not through the iOS or Android app.
If you’ve purchased NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube or YouTube TV in any previous season, you qualify as a returning subscriber and pay the higher returning rate. The $378 bundled price is still meaningfully lower than the $480 standalone rate for returning customers, which is one reason to stay on YouTube TV if you’re an existing subscriber considering dropping the TV plan. Returning customers who verified through ID.me for a Heroes discount in a prior season renew automatically at the Heroes rate.
The Heroes plan is the deepest legitimate discount on Sunday Ticket. Active military, veterans, first responders, medical workers, and teachers all qualify. Verification runs through ID.me — once verified, previous Heroes subscribers renew at the discount rate automatically. At $198, this is less than half what returning civilian subscribers pay. If you or anyone in your household qualifies, this is unambiguously where to start. The verification process is straightforward and the savings are substantial — $180 less than the returning civilian bundled price for the same service.
Student pricing through SheerID is generally the lowest Sunday Ticket price available. Verification requires current enrollment status — a school email or enrollment documentation. Note that the student plan is sold only as a YouTube Primetime Channel (standalone), not as a YouTube TV add-on. Purchases must be made through a mobile web browser, not the iOS or Android app. Student pricing is announced each season and the exact price can vary — confirm the current season’s price at checkout after verifying eligibility, rather than assuming last year’s figure still applies.
Verizon has offered among the most aggressive Sunday Ticket promotions available. Customers with qualifying Simplicity mobile plans or Verizon Home Internet plans have been offered Sunday Ticket at no charge — a $480 value. Customers who don’t qualify for the free offer can get 50% off ($234 for the season or $276 with RedZone). Check your Verizon account or call Verizon support to confirm whether your current plan qualifies before purchasing Sunday Ticket directly — if you’re a Verizon subscriber who pays full price without checking, you may be leaving significant money on the table.
This table shows exactly what each YouTube TV plan includes for NFL coverage before you add anything extra, and what Sunday Ticket adds on top.
| What You Get | Sports Plan 🏈 | Main Plan 📺 | Sunday Ticket Add-On 🏟️ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | $64.99/mo ($54.99 intro) | $82.99/mo ($67.99 promo) | $192–$480/season (one-time) |
| Local CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | Not applicable |
| ESPN / Monday Night Football | ✓ ESPN + ESPN2 | ✓ ESPN + ESPN2 | Not included in Sunday Ticket |
| NFL Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | Not in Sunday Ticket |
| Sunday Night Football (NBC) | ✓ via NBC | ✓ via NBC | Not in Sunday Ticket |
| Out-of-Market Sunday Afternoon Games | ❌ Not included in plan | ❌ Not included in plan | ✓ This is what Sunday Ticket provides |
| Your Home Team When Blacked Out | ✓ Local CBS/FOX in plan | ✓ Local CBS/FOX in plan | ❌ Sunday Ticket blacks out local games |
| Thursday Night Football (Amazon Prime) | ❌ Not in YouTube TV | ❌ Not in YouTube TV | ❌ Not in Sunday Ticket |
| NFL RedZone | $10.99/mo add-on (Sports Plus) | $10.99/mo add-on (Sports Plus) | +$42 bundle with Sunday Ticket |
| Playoff Games & Super Bowl | ✓ via network channels | ✓ via network channels | ❌ Sunday Ticket = regular season only |
| Multiview (Watch 4 Games at Once) | ✓ Available | ✓ Available | ✓ Available within Sunday Ticket games |
| Unlimited Cloud DVR | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | N/A — live only |
| Contract / Cancellation | No contract — cancel anytime | No contract — cancel anytime | Non-refundable full season purchase |
| Best For | NFL + sports fans, cord cutters | Full households with mixed viewing | Fans whose team plays in another market |
Prices approximate at time of writing. Promotions are time-limited. Verify current pricing at tv.youtube.com before purchasing. Local channel availability varies by ZIP code. Thursday Night Football requires a separate Amazon Prime Video subscription.
The math and the value case look completely different depending on what team you follow and where you live. Here’s the honest answer for the situations that actually drive most purchasing decisions.
This is exactly who Sunday Ticket is designed for. If you’ve relocated away from your home team’s market — a Bills fan in Phoenix, a Packers fan in Florida, a Cowboys fan in Oregon — Sunday Ticket is how you watch every single one of your team’s games that air on Sunday afternoon. Combined with YouTube TV’s Sports Plan for Monday Night Football and local channel coverage when your team is on a national game, this setup covers nearly your entire team’s season. For relocated fans who watch every game, Sunday Ticket pays for itself quickly when compared to the alternatives. Divide the cost by 17 games and the per-game price is often less than a single bar tab.
Probably not, at least not primarily for your own team. Your home team’s games air on local CBS or FOX in your market, and those channels are included with YouTube TV’s Sports Plan and Main Plan. What Sunday Ticket would give you is access to other teams’ games — useful if you have fantasy football lineups spread across multiple teams or you follow a second team. If you only care about watching your local team, Sunday Ticket adds little that the base YouTube TV plan doesn’t already cover. Consider whether your specific fantasy football or multi-team interest justifies the seasonal add-on cost.
This is the second-strongest use case for Sunday Ticket. The Multiview feature — displaying up to four games simultaneously on one screen — launched across YouTube TV’s full channel lineup in April 2026 and is available on TVs, tablets, and mobile. For fantasy players who need to track multiple players across different games every Sunday, the combination of Sunday Ticket’s out-of-market games and Multiview creates one of the best fantasy football viewing experiences available. Add NFL RedZone ($42 bundled or $10.99/month) for the red zone highlights across every game, and you have a comprehensive fantasy setup. If you have money in multiple fantasy leagues, the math can genuinely work out in your favor.
The honest answer: there is no single service that shows every NFL game. Here’s what a complete 2026 NFL season setup requires. YouTube TV Sports Plan ($64.99/month) handles local Sunday games, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, NFL Network, and ESPN. Sunday Ticket ($240 new subscriber bundled) covers out-of-market Sunday afternoon games. Amazon Prime Video (~$8.99/month or $139/year) handles Thursday Night Football. Netflix carries five games this season including Christmas Day. Peacock has one exclusive Saturday night game (Week 17). Total annual cost for near-complete coverage runs approximately $1,000–$1,200. If budget matters, prioritize based on which games your team actually plays in each window.
Start at the ID.me Heroes verification page before going anywhere near the standard checkout. Military, veterans, first responders, medical workers, and teachers all qualify for the Heroes rate of $198 — less than half the returning civilian subscriber price. If you’re a current student, check SheerID for student pricing. If you’re a Verizon customer with a qualifying Simplicity mobile plan or home internet plan, check your Verizon account before buying anywhere else — you may qualify for Sunday Ticket at no charge. These discounts are not automatically applied when you land on the Sunday Ticket page; you have to seek them out through the specific verification routes.
YouTube TV is generally considered one of the easier live TV streaming services to navigate, and the Sunday Ticket add-on layers on top of it cleanly — once purchased, it appears inside the same YouTube TV app alongside everything else. The Multiview feature requires a few taps to set up on screen but is straightforward once you know where to find it. The trickiest part for many people is understanding the blackout rule — when your local team’s game shows a “not available” message, it’s because that game is airing on your local CBS or FOX channel instead, which is accessible through the same YouTube TV app by tuning to that channel. If you can navigate a smartphone and know your Amazon password, you can handle YouTube TV. Call YouTube TV support at 1-650-930-0611 if setup issues arise.
Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV streams on virtually every modern connected device: smart TVs running Android TV, Samsung Tizen, or LG WebOS; streaming sticks and boxes including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Chromecast; gaming consoles including Xbox and PlayStation; plus iPhones, Android phones, iPads, tablets, and any web browser. If you can watch YouTube or YouTube TV on a device today, you can watch Sunday Ticket on it. The Multiview feature is available on TVs, tablets, and mobile — it’s not limited to one device type.
You lose access to Sunday Ticket immediately upon canceling YouTube TV — even though you’ve already paid for the season. The bundle pricing requirement means maintaining an active YouTube TV subscription throughout the NFL season is a condition of accessing Sunday Ticket at the bundled price. Canceling YouTube TV does not trigger a refund on Sunday Ticket. This is one of the most important contract terms to understand before purchasing the bundled option. If there’s any chance you’d want to cancel YouTube TV during the football season, the standalone Primetime Channels route (no YouTube TV required) is a safer choice even at the slightly higher price.
Yes — full-game replays are available after the live game concludes. If you know the final score and want to avoid it, be careful about checking your phone between the live end time and when you sit down to watch. The replay availability is one of Sunday Ticket’s underrated features: if you’re at a family event during the early Sunday window, you can come home and watch the full game from the start rather than hunting for highlights. Games are typically available for replay shortly after the live broadcast concludes. Note that YouTube TV’s unlimited cloud DVR does not capture Sunday Ticket games — replays live within the Sunday Ticket interface itself.
No free trial exists for NFL Sunday Ticket. Once you purchase, the season pass is non-refundable. YouTube TV itself offers a free trial for new subscribers (typically 21 days), which you can use to test the platform’s interface, channel quality, and streaming reliability before committing. But the Sunday Ticket add-on does not stack on top of a free trial — you’d pay for Sunday Ticket immediately at purchase. The best way to assess whether the service is right for you before football season is to use the YouTube TV trial for a few weeks with regular content, and separately research which games your team plays in Sunday afternoon out-of-market windows before deciding whether Sunday Ticket covers enough games to justify the cost.
RedZone and Sunday Ticket are genuinely different products that serve different purposes. NFL RedZone (hosted by Scott Hanson, now on ESPN following a rights shift) shows live cut-ins from every game when teams approach the red zone — it’s a continuous highlight channel across all Sunday afternoon games simultaneously, with no commercials. Sunday Ticket lets you watch one specific out-of-market game from start to finish. RedZone is for fantasy football players or fans who want to track every scoring play across the league. Sunday Ticket is for fans who want to watch their specific team or a specific matchup in full. Many subscribers get one but not the other; combining both covers the full Sunday experience for those who want it. Adding RedZone to your Sunday Ticket purchase costs $42 for the season.
If you have cable or satellite service that already includes ESPN, NFL Network, and local channels, the question becomes whether you also want out-of-market Sunday afternoon games. If yes, you can purchase Sunday Ticket as a standalone YouTube Primetime Channel ($240 for new subscribers) without needing YouTube TV at all — you’d watch those games through the YouTube app on your TV or device while watching everything else through your cable service. This is often the cleaner and cheaper path for existing cable subscribers who simply want Sunday Ticket specifically, rather than switching their entire TV setup. Compare the standalone Sunday Ticket cost against your cable provider’s own Sunday Ticket offering (if any) before deciding which route makes more financial sense.
This page is for general informational purposes only. NFL Sunday Ticket pricing, plan availability, discount eligibility requirements, and terms change each season — verify all current details directly at tv.youtube.com and youtube.com/primetime before purchasing. Promotional rates are time-limited. Sunday Ticket is non-refundable once the season begins. Local channel availability through YouTube TV varies by ZIP code and is subject to change. Thursday Night Football requires a separate Amazon Prime Video subscription not included in any YouTube TV plan. Netflix exclusive games require a separate Netflix subscription. This page does not constitute a paid endorsement of any service mentioned.