Kirby Lee - IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

NFL+ Apologizes After Unfortunate Mishap on Sunday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Yagya Bhargava | Last updated Sep 13, 2026 3:20 PM ET

The 2026 NFL season kicked off its first full Sunday slate with eight games hitting the 1 p.m. ET window. The Chicago Bears squared off with the Carolina Panthers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took on the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Detroit Lions hosted the New Orleans Saints.

That early window also included the Baltimore Ravens against the Indianapolis Colts, the Buffalo Bills versus the Houston Texans, the Cleveland Browns at the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New York Jets on the road in Tennessee, and the Pittsburgh Steelers battling the Atlanta Falcons.

Eight games, one massive opening Sunday, and a whole lot of fans trying to watch at once. That last part turned into a problem of its own.

NFL+ subscribers around the country started running into trouble right around kickoff. Some couldn’t get a live stream to load at all. Others sat through frozen screens, black screens and crashes while trying to pull up their game or flip over to RedZone.

The league’s NFL+ support account owned the outage pretty quickly, confirming the issues and telling fans a fix was already in the works.

We are aware of the issues affecting the NFL+ experience and are working to fix them. We apologize for the inconvenience.

If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please submit a ticket to our customer support team. https://t.co/BxvQaFZlTp
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) September 13, 2026

“We are aware of the issues affecting the NFL+ experience and are working to fix them. We apologize for the inconvenience,” NFL+ shared on X. “If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please submit a ticket to our customer support team.”

For fans still locked out or dealing with playback issues, the league pointed them toward its support ticket system rather than a quick fix on the spot.

NFL+ is the league’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform, built primarily for mobile and on-demand viewing.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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