The NFL app is (still) an insult to sports streaming
Football fans who spent $15 per month on an NFL+ Premium subscription received a rude awakening on Sunday afternoon, when the NFL app refused to stream.
As numerous users reported on Reddit—and as I experienced first-hand—NFL’s app and website failed to stream its usual NFL Network and NFL Redzone feeds as the action began. The official NFL+ account on X eventually apologized for the issue, which it claimed to resolve more than an hour into game time during the debut Sunday of the season.
While a one-off glitch might be forgivable, the NFL app is routinely one of the worst experiences in sports streaming, with subpar video quality, lackluster features, and a history of reliability issues. Given that the NFL generates by far the most revenue of any U.S. sports league, surely it can do better than this embarrassment.
NFL app problems
Last weekend’s outage aside, the NFL app’s biggest problem is its framerate.
Live sporting events look best when they’re streaming at 60 frames per second. Whereas 30 frames per second has a more cinematic feel, 60 frames per second makes the action look much smoother. This video provides a useful side-by-side comparison.
Virtually every other sports streaming service supports 60 frames per second today, and it’s not as if the NFL is incapable of doing so. Its own channels already stream at the higher framerate via live TV services such as YouTube TV and Fubo. ESPN Unlimited also carries a live feed of the NFL Network at 60 frames per second, so it’s unclear why the NFL app remains stuck in the past. A spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Framerate isn’t the only issue. With the NFL app, you can’t pause or rewind the live NFL Network or Redzone feeds. If you hit the pause button, it’ll just jump back to the live feed upon resuming. There’s no DVR either, so you can’t record the NFL Network’s exclusive games and catch up later.
As for Sunday’s outage, users reported error messages, endless buffering, or simply a lack of any option to launch the NFL’s live feeds. Sadly this is to be expected from an app that seldom seems to work quite right, with users routinely complaining of login problems, loading issues, audio cutouts, and crashes. Over the years it’s been called “terrible,” “the worst app I have ever used,” “so awful I just canceled,” and “somehow [getting] worse every year.”
What’s the NFL app for, anyway?
Keep in mind that the NFL app isn’t necessary if you have access to the NFL Network or Redzone through a live TV service such as YouTube TV, Sling TV, or Fubo. You can just use those services’ own streaming apps to get better video quality and DVR features.
Still, the app provides a workaround for some of those services’ location restrictions. Hulu + Live TV, for instance, won’t let subscribers watch on televisions from outside the home, and Fubo only allows for remote TV viewing if no one at home is currently watching. YouTube TV’s remote access only works if you check in at home once every three months. Those restrictions don’t apply in the NFL app, so you can use it while traveling or allow a relative to access the channel with your TV login.
More importantly, the NFL app is the only way to access the NFL’s standalone subscriptions. NFL+ ($7 per month or $50 per year) includes a live NFL Network feed on all devices, along with live streams of in-market games strictly on mobile devices. The Premium tier ($15 per month or $100 per year) adds NFL Redzone’s whip-around coverage on Sunday afternoons, plus full game replays after their live airings.
The NFL continues to push those subscriptions prominently, with bold blue banners on its website and in its apps, yet the service seems like an afterthought once you’re actually using it.
Can ESPN help?
As football season got underway, I thought ESPN might provide a reprieve from the NFL app. In February, ESPN acquired various NFL media assets, including the NFL Network and NFL Fantasy, and the Redzone channel for traditional pay TV distributors. In exchange, the NFL got a 10% stake in ESPN, valued at approximately $3 billion.
But as The Athletic pointed out last year, that deal doesn’t cover NFL+ or the NFL website. The league continues to own and operate those assets, along with all digital distribution for NFL Redzone.
ESPN does offer an NFL Network live stream (at 60 frames per second) as part of its $30 per month Unlimited service, but that doesn’t include NFL Redzone. While you can bundle NFL+ Premium with ESPN Unlimited for an extra $10 per month, you still have to use the NFL app to watch Redzone.
And if you subscribe to NFL+ or NFL+ Premium on a standalone basis, you’re stuck with the NFL app no matter what. The rocky start to the 2026 season doesn’t instill confidence that the app will get any better.
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