Utah Fans Face Tough Choices To Catch NFL Action This Season

In case you were not quite aware, Utah does not have an NFL team.

The NBA, check, the NHL, check, the MLB, pending, the NFL, not even a chance right now.

With no local allegiances, fans of football in the beehive state have connections tying them to all 32 NFL teams.

From Raider to Jets fans, the rooting variety in Utah creates an interesting scenario when it comes to watching your favorite team on the tube.

Broncos and Raiders games are pretty available on either local Fox or CBS stations for standard TV goers and the prime time games on Sunday night football and Monday night aren't too difficult to track down.

But outside of that, if your team isn't in market or a regular prime time representative, it’s a tougher go to watch your favorite squad on Sunday

If a Colts fan or a Buccaneers fan, among many others, wants a good clean trustworthy way to watch their team in Utah, then NFL Sunday Ticket is typically a must.

NFL Sunday Ticket is a product of YouTube TV that broadcast all out-of-market regular season Sunday NFL games that would not be broadcast on a local channel in your area.

Outside of accessing every out-of-market Sunday tilt, fans can watch up to 4 games at once in a quad box style with unlimited in home streams and two streams away from home per Youtube.com

That means here in Utah, if you wanted to watch the Jaguars taking on the Panthers in Week 1 you would likely need the services of Sunday Ticket assuming no local channel plays the game and it is not a prime time contest.

As cool as it is to have almost every NFL game every week at your fingertips, the price point is often the determining factor between unlimited Sunday football and simply following your teams score through app updates.

So what’s the damage this year?

The “damage” is totally dependent on what type of setup a fan is looking for.

Right now, YouTube TV is offering new users payment plans of $34.50 a month in 8 non-cancellable payments AKA $276.00 as a base plan.

This is perfect If you follow a team who wont ever appear in prime time, like the Browns, you can get Sunday Ticket and Sunday Ticket alone that will be play on your standard YouTube page.

If one wanted to bundle that Sunday Ticket with a subscription to YouTube TV to also catch the prime time games, they could do so for the same price, with an additional $49.99 a month.

That makes for YouTube TV and Sunday Ticket right around $85.00 a month.

For the first three months that is.

After three months time, the Sunday Ticket price will remain the same but the cost of YouTube TV will rise to $82.99.

The pricier plan would get fans all out of market games alongside the local slate and the nationally televised events, meaning access to every single game that is not Thursday Night Football.

It was also rise quite a bit cost as football season begins to end.

If you are a returning user and already know what you want in a streaming plan, well then i got bad news.

Your loyalty will be rewarded with heftier payment plans.

Returning users will pay $480 on the season, or $60 a month, repeated 8 times, for just Sunday Ticket.

Those going for the the "bundlerooksi" to quote Andy Reid will spend $47.25 a month for Sunday Ticket with 3 months of a $49.99 payment for YouTube TV before it eventually rises to $82.99 a month.

If desired, fans can tack on NFL RedZone to either package for another $10.50 a month or $42.00 straight up.

NFL RedZone is an additional channel that compiles all the action into the hottest moments.

If a team is inside the opponent’s 20 yard line, or on a momentum swinging drive, one can expect to see the stream of that game, catching the most pivotal moments.

Outside of showing you every touchdown on the season it also has a fun fantasy football channel that monitors who’s performing.

For those of you grinding through a degree at Utah Tech or Westminster or any college around, Sunday Ticket does have a student plan.

The lowest offer of them all is for those currently registered and in school and does require authentication.

For students the cost is $119 on the season with RedZone as a one time $10 dollar option, meaning you could have it all for $129.

The plan is a bit more limited as only one device can be used at a time with no family sharing, but it still gets the job done for all out-of-market games.

Long story turned short, the “damage” is anywhere from $119 to right around $500 depending on how one goes about it.

By the time you take into account a way to watch local games, primetime games, Prime Video for Thursday night football and of course the recently discussed out-of-market games, one can see that watching football can be pricey.

If your not concerned about having access to every game every week, or have the patience to wait one could simply sign up for the NFL+ premium package which is $14.99 a month.

NFL+ premium provides the preseason games, NFL RedZone every Sunday through the regular season and the ability to watch full game replays soon after the games have gone final.

It also allows one to watch live local and primetime games in both the regular and postseason... on your phone or tablet, not the TV.

If you can avoid spoilers or only want to catch the big plays, it’s a much more affordable option to get your football fix.

In today's world of streaming there are options galore, but few are as accessible and affordable as many would like.

Regardless, the fan diversity and the demand for football here in Utah will mean that many Utahns end up on one of the plans listed above with the season only weeks away.