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Despite Some Issues, NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube Was a Solid Success

Also in Traina Thoughts: ‘Enjoy the Zen,’ Kevin Harland in midseason form; excellent feature on Mike McDaniel; and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. NFL Sunday Ticket made its debut on DirecTV in 1994. One year shy of a 30-year partnership, the NFL dumped DirecTV and moved the Sunday Ticket service to YouTube, where it debuted yesterday.

People—and especially sports fans—hate change, so the anticipation was high to see how Sunday Ticket would look, operate and function on a streaming service.

The biggest change for Sunday Ticket this season is that YouTube is no longer offering the Game Mix channel that featured eight games on one screen. However, YouTube is offering several multiview channels that feature four games, three games and two games.

This is how the multiview options look on YouTube.

YouTube exceeded my expectations, and I would say Sunday Ticket’s debut on YouTube was a clear success. I will not say it was a smashing success for one reason.

There were actually two negatives about YouTube’s presentation, one minor and one very large. The minor negative is that YouTube didn’t put up the multiview options until 10 to 15 minutes before kickoff. YouTube needs to get these up at least a half hour before kickoff so fans can plan out their viewing strategy.

The major negative, and this was by far and away the most feedback I received yesterday on Sunday Ticket, is that YouTube doesn’t allow viewers to choose the four games they want in the multiview. Viewers overwhelmingly want the multiview to be customizable. Fans want to be in control of what they watch, and, after shelling out $400 to $500 for Sunday Ticket, they should be allowed to be in control. Hopefully YouTube hears the pleas from fans and changes this, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Everything else about Sunday Ticket was a home run.

The biggest change and the most important change was the presentation, and YouTube could not have done a better job.

When DirecTV presented their Game Mix with four games, the screen was filled with wasted space and the quad boxes were shrunk. Look at all the wasted space on the sides and at the bottom and with the score bars in each box.

YouTube wasted zero space, and the presentation was perfect and beautiful.

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I also had zero streaming issues, no buffering nonsense, no glitches.

I know many fans were frustrated because multiview is not offered on mobile or web and is offered only on streaming devices and TV. And there’s an issue with local market games on Sunday Ticket being blacked out if you don’t subscribe to YouTube TV. These were not issues for me because I was watching on the YouTube app through Apple TV, and I have a second TV for the local market games.

I got a very creative and amusing tweet Sunday about how to rate NFL Sunday Ticket’s debut on YouTube.

I can’t go Deion here. And as long as YouTube provided a working picture, it would’ve gotten a higher mark that Elon. 

My final rating for Week 1 of NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube is an 8.75. Put up the multiview options by 12:30 ET, and it’ll be a 9. Give fans customizable multiview, and it’ll be a 10.

2. One of the more jarring changes to Sunday Ticket now that it’s on YouTube is that during local commercial breaks during games, YouTube replaces the commercial with an “Enjoy the Zen” video, which has peaceful and comforting music.

3. Nobody had a better Week 1 on Sunday than Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, who had 11 catches for 215 yards and two touchdowns. What made Hill’s performance even better that it was called by Kevin Harland, who was in midseason form.

Kevin Harlan was made for 36–34 games. Just listen to these three calls.

4. If you have 10 minutes to spare, this feature from ESPN‘s Jeff Darlington on Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is worth your time. McDaniel talks about being out of the NFL for a lengthy period of time after drinking too much and how that has affected him today.

5. This was a cool moment from Saturday. As CBS’s Brad Nessler was telling the story of Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy wearing the No. 47 on his hand to honor high school friend and teammate Ryan Keeler, who died in the offseason, McCarthy threw a 47-yard touchdown pass. Keeler wore No. 47 at UNLV.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features two interviews plus the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment.

First up is Super Bowl champion Julian Edelman, who joined Fox NFL Kickoff this season. Edelman discusses his new gig with Fox, why so many former Patriots are on television and why he chose TV over coaching. Edelman also talks about what it was like playing for Bill Belichick and with Tom Brady, how Belichick would use other players’ quotes to motivate the Patriots, how Brady would mock him for not being fully in on the TB12 Method, the issue of gambling in the NFL, his love of burgers, beef with Ben Affleck, bad betting losses and much more.

Following Edelman, John Ourand from Sports Business Journal joins the show to talk about the dispute between Spectrum cable and Disney, which has left 15 million subscribers without ESPN. What is the dispute about? When will it get settled? What should customers do? Ourand also discusses what we should expect from NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube when the season kicks off, the strong ratings for the start of the college football season and more.

The podcast closes with Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joining me for “Traina Thoughts.” This week we talk about Week 1 NFL lines, the U.S. Open, Jimmy Buffet and more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Monday Night Football returns tonight with the Bills visiting the Jets. The first-ever MNF game, from 1970, exists on YouTube. I’m not posting it so you can watch the entire game. Just check out what the opening looked like back then and listen to the iconic voice of Keith Jackson, who introduces the game.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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