Is the NFL on the verge of causing its fans to suffer football fatigue?

First season of Sunday ticket cost $100.

 

Exactly

If a game was on Sunday but not available in your market because a local game was on people would ***** because they should be able to pay for it

Let them have the option to pay for it and people ***** about that

 

More Steelers football

 

Nobody is complaining about paying for it. People are complaining that they have to have a bunch of different services to get it.
I've had NFL Sunday Ticket since 1997, or whatever year it was we lost in overtime against the Lions because of the coin flip. I paid whatever to watch every game since, but there was a time that if You had the Sunday ticket, that meant you had DTV, and therefore, all the ESPNs, local channels, and NFL Network when it came about, that means you seen every single game that was played if you wanted to on one service, one remote , one payment place.
Now You must have 10 different services, and pay each one unless you are doing it illegally. That's the problem.

 

So you think just NBC should have all games for example

And since I am in the local market I don’t understand all of the other services but if you have NFL Sunday ticket don't you get all of the games

 

was this considered cheap in 1997?

 

Inflation 1=to 2.07 so your call

 

Yeah. That is the thing. ESPN is stupid expensive where I live. Same with NFL network. So i don't pay for them. Some, but not all, ESPN games are also on ABC.

But I think this is the list of things you need to sign up for to get all the 2026 NFL games (assume you are out the local market):
Sunday Ticket
Amazon
Netflix
Peacock (because I think at least a couple of NBC's games are NOT on broadcast TV...just their dumb streaming platform)
ESPN AND ESPN+

Plus you have to get broadcast TV if you want some of the primetime and local market games (those are NOT on Sunday Ticket).

That is a giant pain in my ass and can get unnecessarily expensive. I am fortunate to have a relative that helps me out with Sunday Ticket (all legal...you can share) and I have much of the rest through my household's preferred streaming mix of content providers. But not all.

Honestly, if not for my family member, I would just be pirating every game like I have since about 1997 or so. The NFL does not make it easy for me to do what I want....just let me buy a season package of all Steelers games that do not go out over the airwaves in my zip code. Chop the money up however you have to to satisfy your broadcast partners.

 

Here we sit through the spring and summer debating backup QBs. Already talking about the 2027 draft. What exactly would football fatigue look like?

 

I refuse to pay all that as well. BUT, I would go watch at the local watering hole or Buffalo Wild Wings, some other establishment that has games on.
I'm not against just watching the weekly games on network each week. Then, go out to the sports bars for playoff games and the SB.

 

Not anymore.
Only Sunday games.
Not Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other games.

 

This exactly.
I read a article somewhere about 10 years ago , I believe it was that they wanted to do this, but that some teams, I believe they showed the Steelers, Cowboys, Raiders, and some other teams would then make more money, or watches , I don't remember how they stated it, and that teams like Cardinals, and I believe they said the Panthers would hardly get views unless they were playing certain other teams. I wish I could find this article.

 

Hulu Live: $100/month (CBS, NBC, FOX, ESPN, ABC)
Netflix: $27/month
Amazon: $15/month

Netflix and Amazon are no big deal to me... because I use them quite extensively since the 00's decade, long before they had NFL games.

My local CBS is Steelers market, but local FOX is not. So I miss one... sometimes two games a year.

I have Paramount, but not for CBS.... for Star Trek.

 

Do you eat and drink at the sports bar? I used to and it probably cost more than paying for the ticket if you went 3 or 4 times a season. More fun though if its a Steeler bar.

While I agree that it can be annoying to try to watch every game.. its EVERY GAME. How easy should it be to watch 216 games or whatever the total number is every year?

I do wish you could just buy the channel for your team and get all 17 games. I gave up on the ticket because the past year I had it 6 or 7 games weren’t even on the Ticket due to prime time or being on a local channel in Charlotte.

 

I don’t even need a game to do that

 

Agree. People are excited to talk bout the Myles and AJ Brown trades today. I'd say the league is very far from fatigue.

 

Friday is tough due to broadcasting rules due to HS football. There's a reason why the Black Friday game is afternoon as opposed to being prime time. Saturday games in late December through January will become the norm.

 

I will sit at home and watch whichever games come on my network feed during the season. I would only go out to watch playoff games for the atmosphere. Currently, the playoff games have been on network tv for me as well.
There are plenty of Steelers fans around here but I don't know of any 'Steelers' bar.
I'm one of those that can watch games with fans of other teams as well.


But yes, I would also eat and drink during those trips out.

 

The only way this ends is if fans stop paying for all that nonsense. That will never happen. The NFL can spit on fans and they'll gladly lap it right up. NFL fans have proven over and over that they will not stop watching no matter how many times they threaten to do so they will simply give in to the NFL and pay up. I don't. If I can't watch the Steelers on cable then I don't watch them. I have a Netflix account and a Prime account. That's it. There will be no more. Most of these services will offer a free trial period with you giving them your account number. Then they hope that a lot of people that do that for the game will not cancel the subscription. So Goodell knows this and he will go after every single dollar he can. That's business. NFL fans have fed this for years. I don't even worry about it anymore. If they're on i'll watch, if not I'll listen to the game on radio.

 

I cant help it, I wanna watch, I enjoy it, I wait all year for it. I have the disposable income to see the games so thats what i'm going to do.

 

Season ticket 57 years