A new NFL season starts next month, and to make it easier for iOS users, YouTube is offering access to NFL Sunday Ticket through the Apple App Store. It’s a must-have service for football fans, as it lets you watch every game in the league, even those that are out of market.
But there’s a catch: If you purchase a subscription on an iPhone or iPad, you’ll pay a whopping $679.99 for the annual subscription.
These astronomical prices appear to have been originally discovered by John Ourand of the independent news site Puck. In his newsletter, he says that if you want to add NFL Redzone, you have to pay $739.99 per year. People are understandably outraged. You can find multiple reports and comments on the internet expressing their shock at the huge price tag.
One X user said it best by simply responding to the announcement with “Yikes.” Fortunately, you do have options. You don’t have to pay almost $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 for the year, split into four monthly payments of $119.75. You also have the option to bundle the service with a basic YouTube TV subscription. That brings the annual cost to about $586, split into four payments of $146.49. It’s a bit more expensive, but it’s at least cheaper than what’s available on the App Store.
If you don’t have YouTube TV and don’t plan on getting it, you can still purchase Sunday Ticket through the platform’s website. Primetime channels, where the cost is even lower. At the time of writing, fans can pay a reduced annual price of $394 for a subscription. The YouTube TV bundle still costs the same.
Cost of doing business
Ourand reached out to the NFL to ask why Sunday Ticket is so expensive on iOS. A representative told him the organization “has no control over the pricing of (the service) and does not set or receive any additional fees.” He instead blames Apple’s exorbitant App Store fees. As Tom’s Guide points outthe company “takes 30 percent of all sales” on its digital store.
YouTube raised prices on iOS to offset the costs of doing business on the App Store. To complicate matters, the platform doesn’t let people sign up for the service on iPhones or iPads. Tom’s Guide claims 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 Ny Breaking’s list of the best TVs for sports . We cover a wide range of budgets.