This is a busy time of year for me, and I love it. Between the start of school, work, best ball drafts, and home leagues, it’s non-stop. And now, as promised, this newsletter during the middle of every week.

FOOTBALL IS HERE!

We have meaningful football starting this weekend. It’s here. We get two weekends of college football and then the NFL kicks off with the Lions @ Chiefs on Thursday Night Football. (side note: no MNF doubleheader on opening week like in years past ☹️ ).

We ALSO have new viewing options, and that’s what the meat of this email will be geared towards. Basically, what are the options out there? And… can I watch it … cheaper?

Play clock is winding down and I’ve already reset it three times… so let’s get to the line…

NFL CHANGED PLAYCALLERS THIS YEAR

Let’s assume we all want RedZone as a part of the plan

• Sunday Ticket + RedZone ($440) is now on YouTubeTV

• NFL created NFL+ Premium ($15/mo)

Sunday Ticket = All the games on Sunday that are NOT shown in your local market (CBS + FOX)… you can get it as an add-on to YouTubeTV so you have access to local market games… and this is big after customer revolt feedback: Unlimited streams at your house, so go crazy with those TVs.

Side note: Click here to see your local market games this season.

NFL+ = all of the live local/primetime games… on your phone (womp womp)

However, if you want the cheapest RedZone option on your TV, this is your best shot at $15/mo with NFL+ Premium.

INTRODUCING MULTIVIEW:

Here’s why I’m excited about YouTubeTV getting Sunday Ticket…. Multiview.

Four screens at once. 

YouTubeTV rolled this out for March Madness and it was a big hit… and the good news is that they’ve made it even better.

Below you’ll see a screenshot of what you’ll be able to see during the season. Not completely custom, but better than nothing.

Also, they just answered the question about mixing Sunday Ticket with local TV.

“On YouTube TV, multiview combinations will also include local NFL games side-by-side with your NFL Sunday Ticket games.”

And GREAT news — fully customized multiview is coming… eventually.

From a Q&A last March, the main YouTube engineer said, “Over time, we’ll refine and add more functionality to multiview, including the option to customize your own multiview streams.”

Yahtzee.

Also, looks like college football will be on tap as well for multiview … so as a Vandy fan, I can cheer on all of the good SEC teams at once!

I’M NOT CHEAP, BUTTT….

I get it… you’re like my brother-in-law and you want some of the benefits of Sunday Ticket but aren’t paying $440.

Luckily, for my awesome BIL, he’s family.

And look, I’m not telling you how to live your life, but also maybe when it comes to watching football, you consider adopting the Olive Garden approach.

So buddy up or mooch off your awesome friend. Here are the sharing details:

If you share your Google password:

• You get two RedZone streams (moochers) or Sunday Ticket plans outside of your own home stream

If you add someone as a member of your family:

• Add up to five other members of your family

• Two of the five get access to your Sunday Ticket plan at once (outside the house)

• Unlimited streams if you have roommates and they’re “family” (since they are in the house)

ALSO, this past week they announced that monthly and Student plans are now available for Sunday Ticket… sadly the Student Plans can’t share streams.

But there might be some guys reading this in their late forties that can finally use the kids’ tuition money for their benefit.

WATCHING ALL THE GAMES

The League does this thing where they front load the early games and it’s maddening. I ran a CSV file through ChatGPT and asked it to separate early/afternoon games:

Multiple weeks with 9 games in the early slot… that’s like being down 17 and knowing you have to score three times.

So if you want to watch EVERY NFL GAME THIS SEASON, here’s what you need at minimum:

• YouTubeTV

• Sunday Ticket

• Amazon Prime (Thursday Night Games)

• Two TVs (each with 4 game multiview)

• One laptop/tablet to watch that leftover game on evil 9 game slates

The perfect layout?:

First, I’m now considering a projector for the mancave (that I don’t have yet).

Doing the math, the popular projector screen size of 120” for Multiview would equal four 55” TVs. Not bad.

I think 2 big TVs (65” or 77”) side-by-side are going to be optimal. If you don’t have room, one big TV and two stacked smaller TVs.

Or just go crazy with a 2-2 build with four 77” TVs…

Scott Hanson, aka Mr. RedZone, briefly showed his media wall on a show with my close-enough-to-share-my-Sunday-Ticket-login friend, Peter Overzet. He’s rocking the 2-1-2. Not bad, but probably time to invest in a 77” for that middle screen now.

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TL;DR

Sunday Ticket and YouTubeTV = Spensive, but Good.

For those trying to save a buck:

• Antenna (kinda free) = Local Games Only + SNF 

• Antenna + ESPN + Amazon Prime (a lil’ less free) = Local Games + Primetime (SNF + MNF + TNF)

• Antenna + ESPN + Amazon Prime + NFL+ (not free… but not bad) = Local Games + Primetime + RedZone

• Family (usually some sort of emotional cost)= Access every game

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What did I miss? Reply to this email or slide into my Twitter DMs @Socrdave.

Not football related, what I’ve bought in the past week…

For my first big pickleball tournament (… yes, yes, that one that we finished 1st ( and wrecked my back.), I bought an Adidas hat that was super lightweight and did a good job absorbing sweat.

I’ve liked/worn it so much that I went back and bought a black hat — and it was on sale for $13.

Today the white hat is on sale for $13 …

Giving me all sorts of Eastbay magazine nostalgic vibes.

I think that’s it… not every email will be a deep dive. But I enjoyed putting this together. If you have ideas or questions re: topics for guys in their 30s/40s, please let me know.

Enjoy the weekend, and know that this newsletter is also like Olive Garden… I just have to think of a clever analogy involving unlimited bread sticks.

-David