NFL Sunday Ticket

DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket is marketed to the pro football superfan, the kind of fan who has an interest in not one, but several NFL teams, and who even when they’re at a game wants, no, needs, more games.

But it is precisely this breed of avid football watcher who NFL Sunday Ticket may ultimately disappoint.

That’s because, despite claims to “stream every game, every Sunday afternoon, anywhere,” there is one place where the app will never work. And that’s at or around an NFL stadium when a game is going on.

In response to a question regarding streaming issues near a stadium posted on its website, NFL Sunday Ticket said:

Due to NFL rules, live games cannot be streamed on a mobile device if you’re in or near a stadium where a game is in progress.

Yet this is not clearly disclosed in some of the sport package’s marketing materials. In fact, in some cases the language is so ambiguous that it’s debatable whether it is disclosed at all.

Take this email that TINA.org reader Branden W., an NFL Sunday Ticket subscriber, recently sent in. The only indication of the restriction is a line buried in the fine print of the email (which it’s safe to say no one reads) that states, “Games available via remote viewing based on device location.”

Similarly inconspicuous is the disclaimer in this NFL Sunday Ticket TV commercial starring Charlie Day, who throughout the ad watches games on the app at different locations across the country, including on a subway in New York and on a beach in Los Angeles. It states in part, “Remote access to only 1 game at a time; based on device location.” (emphasis added.)

Branden said he found out firsthand that NFL Sunday Ticket doesn’t allow for streaming inside stadiums when he attempted to fire up the app from his seat at an NFL game last month and was blocked from viewing.

“Clearly, this is not anywhere,” he said.

Find more of our coverage on the streaming services here.