If you purchased a Sunday Ticket NFL package for all out-of-market games before learning of the tenuous contract negotiations between Fox and YouTube TV, you can exhale.
The NFL issued a statement on Tuesday reassuring customers who have purchased the popular out-of-market streaming package that the standoff between Fox and YouTube won’t impact their viewing options on Sundays.
YouTube TV customers, however, remain in limbo when it comes to games carried by local affiliates, including college football games.
The contract between YouTube TV and Fox expires on Wednesday and could create a seismic impact on the weekend’s college football slate. Fox Sports is broadcasting the headline college football game of the weekend in Columbus pitting No. 1 Texas and defending national champion Ohio State. The Buckeyes are No. 3 in the preseason Top 25.
Week 1 of the regular season in the NFL begins next week. The first games carried by Fox in the regular season begin at 1 p.m. ET on Sept. 7.
Those games are: Tampa Bay at Atlanta, Cincinnati at Cleveland, Miami at Indianapolis, Carolina at Jacksonville, N.Y. Giants at Washington. The late-game slots on Fox feature these 4:05 p.m. ET games: Tennessee at Denver, San Francisco at Seattle.
However, that doesn’t mean home market NFL game will be available for YouTube TV subscribers if Fox is the carrier and contract negotiations between the network and carrier remain ongoing. For NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers, only out of market games are guaranteed.
“The games in the NFL Sunday Ticket package on YouTube and YouTube TV only include out-of-market Sunday afternoon regular-season NFL games. NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers will continue to have access to all out-of-market games (both CBS and FOX). Games in the local market are not available within NFL Sunday Ticket and would be impacted on YouTubeTV if the potential dispute is not resolved by the start of Week 1,” the league statement to NBC Sports read Tuesday.
