Week 1 of the NFL season was marred by significant technical difficulties for the league's subscription service, NFL+, with many users reporting an inability to access the popular NFL RedZone channel.
The issues impacted paying subscribers on one of the most anticipated days for football fans. The NFL+ premium tier, which costs $14.99 per month or $99.99 for the season, features NFL RedZone, a channel known for its whip-around coverage of live games. Subscribers took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to express their anger and demand refunds.
"We are aware of the issues affecting the NFL+ experience and are working to fix them. We apologize for the inconvenience," the official NFL+ account posted on X. The league advised those experiencing problems to submit a ticket to their customer support team.
Fans responded to the NFL's statement with continued frustration. "This is insane. 45 mins in and I can’t watch any game. Embarrassing," one user commented. Another added, "Yea this is just trash. 1 hour into Sunday and your servers just don’t allow PAYING customers to watch. There needs to be a refund."
Subscribers attempting to use the NFL+ app on Sunday afternoon were reportedly met with a constantly spinning football graphic, indicating a lack of connection or stream loading. IMAGE2
Beyond live game access, NFL+ Premium also offers features such as full game replays, condensed game replays, and the all-22 coaches film. A base tier of NFL+ is available at half the price, offering local and primetime games on phones and tablets, on-demand shows, and live game audio for every contest.
The NFL+ app, which reportedly has more than two million subscribers, debuted in 2022. Sunday's widespread outage may have impacted that subscriber base.