You're sitting on the couch, wings getting cold, the regular season just wrapped up, and you’re ready to watch the Wild Card round. You pull up YouTube TV, expecting the same easy access you had all November. Then it hits you. The screen doesn't look right. You start digging through menus. You paid hundreds of dollars for this subscription, so it has to be there, right?
Honestly, it’s a total gut punch when you realize the truth.
Does Sunday Ticket include playoffs? No. It doesn't. Not even a little bit.
It feels like a scam when you first hear it. You spent the whole year watching your team grind out wins, and now that the games actually matter—now that it’s win or go home—the service you bought basically turns into a pumpkin. This is the single biggest point of confusion for NFL fans every single January. People flock to social media to complain, thinking their app is broken or their subscription lapsed. But it’s working exactly how the NFL and Google intended.
The Regular Season Reality Check
NFL Sunday Ticket is a very specific product with a very specific job. Its entire existence is built around the "out-of-market" problem.
Think about it this way: if you live in Chicago but you’re a die-hard Miami Dolphins fan, you’re usually stuck watching the Bears or whatever regional game CBS and FOX decide to dump on your local station. Sunday Ticket solves that by giving you the games you can’t get on your antenna. But it only does this for Sunday afternoon kickoffs during the regular season.
We’re talking about those 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM ET windows. That’s it.
Once the regular season ends in January, the "out-of-market" concept completely evaporates. During the playoffs, every single game is a national broadcast. There is no such thing as a "local" playoff game versus an "out-of-market" playoff game because everyone in the country is supposed to be watching the same thing. Because these games are national, they fall under different TV contracts that have nothing to do with the Sunday Ticket package.
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Where the Money Goes: Why Google Can't Show You the Postseason
Google (via YouTube) paid a massive $2 billion per year for the rights to Sunday Ticket. You’d think for $2 billion, they’d get the whole season. They didn't.
The NFL is a master at "salami slicing" its media rights. They sell the Sunday afternoon games to one group, Monday Night Football to ESPN/ABC, Thursday Night Football to Amazon, and then they have an entirely separate set of deals for the postseason.
During the playoffs, the heavy hitters take over. NBC, CBS, FOX, and ESPN/ABC have exclusive rights to these matchups. If Google were to stream the playoffs through the Sunday Ticket interface, they would be stepping on the toes of the massive broadcast networks that paid billions for those exclusive windows. It’s all about the ads. CBS isn't going to let you watch a game on a premium subscription service if it means you aren't watching it on their channel where they can show you commercials for trucks and insurance.
Also, we have to talk about the Peacock and Amazon Prime situation. The NFL has started moving specific playoff games to streaming-only platforms. Remember the 2024 Wild Card game between the Chiefs and the Dolphins? That was a Peacock exclusive. Even if Sunday Ticket did include some playoff games, it wouldn't have included that one. The landscape is fractured. It's a mess.
What You Actually Get (And What You Don't)
People often ask if there's a "Playoff Pass" or an add-on. There isn't.
When you buy Sunday Ticket, you are buying a 17-week (now 18-week) window of football. The moment the clock hits zero on the final Sunday of the regular season, your Sunday Ticket subscription essentially goes dormant until next September.
- Sunday Ticket Includes: Every out-of-market Sunday afternoon regular-season game.
- Sunday Ticket Does NOT Include: Sunday Night Football (NBC), Monday Night Football (ESPN), Thursday Night Football (Amazon), or any postseason games.
It’s a bitter pill. You've spent months using one specific app to find your football, and suddenly you have to go hunting through five different apps just to find the Divisional Round. It’s frustrating. It’s expensive. It’s the modern NFL.
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How to Actually Watch the Playoffs Without Sunday Ticket
So, if Sunday Ticket include playoffs is a "no," how do you actually watch the games? You have to go back to the basics.
The irony is that watching the playoffs is actually "easier" in terms of availability, even if it's more annoying in terms of switching channels. Since all playoff games are national broadcasts, you don't need a fancy out-of-market package.
- A Digital Antenna: This is the cheapest way. Most playoff games are on ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC. A $20 antenna from a big-box store will get you 90% of the postseason for free in high definition.
- Cable or Satellite: The old-school way still works. If you have a standard cable package, you’re set for almost everything except the occasional streaming exclusive.
- YouTube TV (The Base Plan): Don't confuse the Sunday Ticket add-on with the YouTube TV base service. If you pay for the monthly YouTube TV subscription, you will get your local channels (CBS, FOX, NBC) and ESPN. This will cover the vast majority of the playoffs.
- NFL+: This is the NFL's own streaming service. It’s great for mobile users. You can watch every playoff game on your phone or tablet. The catch? You can’t legally "cast" it to your TV for the big games. It’s meant for the person watching on the train or hiding in the bedroom.
- Individual Apps: You might need Paramount+ (for CBS games), Peacock (for NBC games), and Amazon Prime.
The Confusion with "Super Bowl Sunday"
There’s a weird psychological thing where people hear "Sunday" and think "Sunday Ticket."
The Super Bowl is the biggest "Sunday" game of the year. But Sunday Ticket has never, in its decades of existence (first on DirecTV and now on YouTube), carried the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl rotates between the major networks. For example, if it's CBS's turn to host the Super Bowl, they hold that right exclusively.
If you try to open the Sunday Ticket portal on Super Bowl Sunday, you’ll just see a screen telling you the season is over. It’s a ghost town.
Is Sunday Ticket Still Worth It?
This is the real question fans ask once they realize the playoffs aren't included. Is it worth the $350–$450 price tag if it cuts out right when the season gets good?
It depends on how much you love your specific team. If you’re a Cowboys fan living in Seattle, Sunday Ticket is the only way you see 13 or 14 of their games. Without it, you're stuck watching the Seahawks. For those fans, the regular season value is high enough that the lack of playoff coverage is just a minor annoyance.
But if you’re a casual fan who just wants "all the football," Sunday Ticket might be overkill. You might be better off with a basic streaming-live TV service that gives you the local channels and national broadcasts.
Technical Glitches or Actual Blackouts?
Sometimes, people think they have playoff access because they see the game listed in the YouTube TV interface.
Here is what's happening: YouTube TV is two things at once. It’s a cable replacement (local channels) and a host for Sunday Ticket. If you see the playoff game, it’s because your local CBS station is showing it, not because of Sunday Ticket.
If you have Sunday Ticket without the YouTube TV base plan—which is an option now—you might find yourself totally locked out of the playoffs on that platform. You'd have to switch over to an antenna or another app. This "standalone" version of Sunday Ticket is where the most confusion happens. People pay for the standalone, thinking it's a "total NFL pass," and then they’re left in the dark come January.
The Future of NFL Streaming
The NFL knows we hate this. They know it's confusing to need a spreadsheet just to figure out which channel the 4:00 PM game is on.
But they don't care.
The "fragmentation" of sports media is intentional. By selling the playoffs separately from the regular season, and selling the regular season in "out-of-market" chunks, the NFL maximizes its revenue. They make more money selling to five different partners than they would selling everything to one.
We are likely heading toward a future where more playoff games move behind specific streaming walls. We've already seen it with Peacock. We've seen it with Amazon. The "Does Sunday Ticket include playoffs" question will eventually be replaced by "Which of my six subscriptions has the NFC Championship?"
Practical Steps for the Postseason
If you’re currently a Sunday Ticket subscriber, don't wait until the Saturday of Wild Card weekend to figure out your plan.
- Audit your apps: Check if you have active logins for Paramount+, Peacock, and ESPN+.
- Test your antenna: If you’re going the free route, plug that antenna in now. See if you actually get a clear signal for your local FOX and CBS affiliates. Weather and buildings can mess with this.
- Check your YouTube TV status: If you have the bundle, you're mostly fine. If you have the standalone Ticket, look into a one-month "free trial" of a live TV service to bridge the gap through the Super Bowl.
- Cancel your Sunday Ticket auto-renew: Since the playoffs aren't included, there’s no reason to keep your mind on that subscription once the regular season ends. Make sure you aren't getting billed for next year at a rate you don't want.
The regular season is a marathon of out-of-market tracking. The playoffs are a sprint through national broadcasts. Just because you have the "Ticket" doesn't mean you have the keys to the whole stadium. Plan accordingly so you aren't staring at a "Blackout" screen while your team is lining up for a game-winning field goal.