NFL Sunday Ticket costs nearly $700 on iPhones and iPads – here’s how to avoid paying that much
The new NFL season begins next month, and to make things easier for iOS users, YouTube is offering access to NFL Sunday Ticket through the Apple App Store. This service is a must-have for football fans, as it allows you to watch every single game in the league, even if it’s played out of market.
However, there is a problem: purchasing a subscription for an iPhone or iPad costs a whopping $679.99 per year.
These astronomical prices seem to have been originally discovered by John Ourand of the independent news site Puck. In his newsletter, he writes that if you want to add NFL Redzone, you have to pay $739.99 per year. People are understandably angry. There are numerous reports and comments online expressing shock at the enormous price.
One X user summed it up best by simply responding to the announcement with “Oops.” Fortunately, there are options. You don’t have to pay nearly $1,000 just to watch American football.
On the hunt for deals
Through YouTube TV, viewers can sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket for $479 per year, split into four monthly payments of $119.75. They also have the option to bundle the service with a basic YouTube TV subscription, bringing the annual cost to about $586, split into four payments of $146.49. It’s a little more expensive, but still cheaper than the App Store offering.
If you don’t have YouTube TV and don’t plan on getting it, you can still purchase Sunday Ticket through the platform’s primetime channels, where the cost is even lower. At the time of writing, fans can pay a discounted annual price of $394 for a subscription. The YouTube TV package still costs the same.
Cost of doing business
Ourand contacted the NFL to ask why Sunday Ticket is so expensive on iOS. A representative told him that the organization “does not control the pricing (of the service) and does not set or receive additional fees.” Instead, he blames Apple’s exorbitant App Store fees. As Tom’s Guide notes, the company receives “30 percent of all sales” on its digital storefront.
YouTube has raised prices on iOS to offset the costs of operating on the App Store. To make matters even more complicated, the platform does not allow users to sign up for its service on iPhones or iPads. Tom’s Guide states that YouTube forces users to “follow a link to a web browser” to manage their subscriptions.
If the cost doesn’t put you off the App Store, the inconvenience probably will. Be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best TVs for sports. We cover a wide range of budgets.
