The NFL’s vastly expanded national schedule makes RedZone and Sunday Ticket less important
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By continuing to expand the number of national broadcasts, the NFL diluted the value of both RedZone and Sunday Ticket.
The 2026-27 season will begin on Wednesday, followed by a Thursday night game from Australia. The league will also begin its first Thanksgiving Eve broadcast this year, leading to three games on Thanksgiving and one on Black Friday. One game is scheduled for Christmas Eve, and the other three are scheduled for Christmas Day.
Additionally, the NFL is extending its late-season Saturday package to four weekends, from Weeks 15-18. In total, the league will record nine international matches this season, all of which will be played across the country.
And all of that comes on top of the league’s standard schedule of three windows on Sunday and one on Monday.
Streaming service EverPass Media has announced that it will be the exclusive commercial provider of the NFL Sunday Ticket beginning in the 2026 season. (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
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The NFL recognized the dangers of overloading the national program last season. In the middle of the season, there weren’t enough good teams to justify the amount of private coverage.
Last Christmas, five of the six participating teams had already been eliminated from playoff contention or ultimately missed out on the post-season. By Thanksgiving, only one of the six teams in play had made the playoffs.
The Sunday slate used to be so high that fans couldn’t afford to pay for a Sunday Ticket to catch all the out-of-market matches. This season, YouTube will charge returning subscribers around $480 per package. However, with more games being bundled into independent broadcasts, fewer games remain in the traditional 1pm and 4:25 pm windows, leaving Sunday Ticket with less to offer.
Take Thanksgiving week for example. On Sunday morning, 10 teams will have played. Six other teams will appear on the national Sunday afternoon show, “Sunday Night Football” or “Monday Night Football.” That leaves only eight games for paying Sunday ticket viewers.
NFL RedZone plays on the video board before the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sept. 28, 2025. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire)
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The same applies to RedZone. The channel was important for Sunday viewing. It was the most effective and most entertaining way for viewers to follow all the meaningful moments in the crowded Sunday schedule. But with a few games in the early and late windows, RedZone has become part of the demand.
In the middle of the season, any game will likely be broadcast nationally. Tracking other, less important sports may only appeal to sports bettors and football fanatics.
At the same time, fans are now required to pay for multiple streaming platforms – including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Peacock – to access the full NFL schedule. That added differentiation can reduce consumers’ willingness to pay for premium products like Sunday Ticket and RedZone.
Josh Allen is shown on the field wearing a Buffalo Bills uniform. NFL fans need YouTube TV’s “NFL Sunday Ticket” and subscribers to Amazon Prime, Peacock and Netflix to access all games. (Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images)
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By and large, the NFL is eliminating the deficits that have helped turn the sport into America’s top television destination.
Sundays used to feel different. The concentrated schedule has created a sense of occasion and urgency that is diluted when games are distributed on Thursdays, Wednesdays at times, Friday holidays, Saturday nights, Sunday mornings and special streaming windows.
For the first time in decades, NFL games are starting to feel like a break. There are too many spread over too many days. The combination of a very packed schedule, international travel and shortened preparation time produces average matches in prime television windows.
The NFL is unlikely to reverse the course due to concerns about the quality of play. The league has shown little evidence that the beauty of competition is as important as growing media rights and expanding inventory.
However, if the continued expansion of national windows ends up weakening premium structures like Sunday Ticket and RedZone, the league may finally consider whether it has stretched the product too far.
