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YouTube NFL Sunday Ticket Not Working for Many Subscribers

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Rowan Fisher-Shotton | Last updated Sep 21, 2025 1:58 PM ET

As NFL Week 3‘s early slate kicked off on Sunday, subscribers to NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV expected seamless access to every out-of-market matchup. Instead, fans using the YouTube mobile app were met with a black screen after selecting their game, even as viewers on web browsers and smart-TV apps streamed without interruption.

According to NBC Sports, hundreds of Sunday Ticket subscribers reported the issue on social media shortly after kickoff, with the app listing all live games but failing to play any of them. Complaints ranged from sudden freezes to error messages instructing users to try again later.

Aggregated outage reports and user threads also showed a clear spike of complaints during the Sunday slate.

YouTube has been the exclusive home for NFL Sunday Ticket since the league moved the package to the platform starting in the 2023 season under a multibillion-dollar agreement.

Unfortunately, a similar situation happened right after the move away from DirecTV. In October 2023, YouTube TV experienced notable streaming problems during Sunday afternoon windows that produced buffering and playback complaints from a large number of subscribers.

NFL Sunday Ticket bundles every out-of-market Sunday afternoon game (CBS/Fox) so fans outside a game’s local broadcast area can watch their team live. For many fans, especially those who live outside their team’s market, the package is the only way to follow every Sunday game (and it also powers bars and other commercial venues).

YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket adds special features like multiview, highlights and mobile accessibility; things that add immense value but also consequences when service fails. Because of that, it commands premium pricing, as well as high expectations for uninterrupted service.

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

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