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Football fans are venting their frustrations over the continued rise in the cost of watching the NFL.
As the league has continued to make new media deals with various streaming services, fans are left to figure out not only what channel or streaming service the game is on, but whether they subscribe to that service. OutKick’s Davey Hudson hit the streets of Nashville and New York City to talk to aggrieved soccer fans.
“I find it frustrating when you just want to watch a game and you have to figure out what app it’s on. And then you pay for multiple apps all the time,” said one fan.
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New England Patriots fans look sad as the Patriots lose in the second half of an NFL game against the Chicago Bears at Gillette Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 24, 2022. (Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
Another fan was blunt, calling the current system of watching games “f—ing stupid.”
“Well that’s f—king stupid, you have to have five different platforms to watch all the games you want and still have to pay on top. It’s ridiculous at this point,” the fan said.
One fan called it a “pain in the a–” to keep track of where and when the games are being streamed.
Another fan called it a “money grab” and cited Netflix as the latest streaming service the NFL brought in to begin broadcasting its games.
One fan, who said he is a New York Jets season ticket holder and has the NFL package, lamented that he still does not have access to all games.
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NFL fans walk outside the Super Bowl Experience at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California on February 6, 2026. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
“I can’t tell you how frustrating it is when I feel like I have all the benefits, I have the Jets season ticket, I have the NFL package and then there are still games on top of that that I don’t have access to. It gets very frustrating,” the fan said.
Several fans said they pay for at least three, if not four, streaming services. Numerous other fans said they pay for five or six different services at this point.
The fan, who called the current system “f—king stupid,” said she thinks the NFL is taking the long way around to return to satellite television.
“Well, I think what’s actually going to happen is we’re just going to take the long way around going back to like satellite TV, and we’re in the final stages of this part of it. It’s all going to conglomerate at some point,” she said.
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Denver Broncos fans cheer during a game against the New England Patriots during the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ 10-7 victory in the AFC Championship Game at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on January 25, 2026. (Aaron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/Getty Images)
NFL fans who want access to all games must purchase YouTube TV for “NFL Sunday Ticket,” in addition to the expensive subscriptions to all the streaming services the NFL broadcasts on. These streaming services are Amazon Prime, Peacock and Netflix. The combination of the respective services is over $1,500 a year, and that doesn’t include the fees that come with basic cable packages or the high-speed Wi-Fi needed to accommodate the platforms.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr said he was concerned that the rising prices of streaming games are crazy for sports fans, and it looks like his concerns are valid.
