Sunday Ticket’s Secret Preseason Streams: What Are They Hiding from Fans?

Via David Rumsey of FrontOfficeSports.com, the Sunday Ticket package has made multiple preseason games available on the Sunday Ticket service.

You know, when most folks think about the NFL Sunday Ticket, their minds jump straight to Week 1 of the regular season — kickoff, fresh stats, new hopes. But here’s the twist: this year, the action technically started much earlier, lurking in the shadows of the preseason. That’s right; Sunday Ticket, now stewarded by YouTube since they snagged the package from DirecTV in 2023, has quietly been rolling out several preseason games via their streaming service. It’s like a dress rehearsal, a stealth test run designed to smooth the digital waters before fans dive headfirst into the full regular season frenzy. Dolphins versus Lions got the nod in Week 2, Patriots and Vikings showed up for some fans last Saturday, and this weekend, a Texans-Lions showdown is popping up in select markets. No flashy announcements, no neon signs — just a low-key shakeout to get the engine purring. Meanwhile, a real headturner’s coming soon: YouTube’s prepping a free live stream of the Chiefs-Chargers game directly from Brazil, primed to shatter streaming records. It’s this kind of forward-thinking plays that make me both intrigued and cautiously optimistic about how the NFL’s broadcasting landscape is evolving. LEARN MORENeither the NFL nor YouTube provided a comment for the story.Apparently, the NFL has allowed YouTube and YouTube TV to stream several preseason games each year, since YouTube acquired the package from DirecTV in 2023. The purpose, per the report, is to test the service in advance of the regular season. The preseason games have not been promoted.This year, Sunday Ticket streamed Dolphins-Lions in Week 2 of the preseason. Some users also had access to Patriots-Vikings last Saturday.Officially, the Sunday Ticket package begins with Week 1 of the regular season. Unofficially, it began during the preseason.

On Saturday, Texans-Lions is scheduled to be streamed by Sunday Ticket in “several markets.”A separate test for YouTube will happen two weeks from tonight, when the service streams the Week 1 Chiefs-Chargers game from Brazil. Given that the game is available at no charge, it will likely be the most-streamed NFL game to date.