Prime Video (No Prime Membership)
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Paramount+ Essential Annual Subscription
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YouTube TV Sports
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Fubo TV Sports
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Peacock Premium Annual Subscription
(save $21.89)
ESPN Unlimited and Fox One
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ESPN Unlimited and NFL+ Premium
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Fox One Annual Plan
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It’s finally that time again: a new NFL season is upon us. That means it’s also time to get all of your streaming services in order. Sorry in advance.
Notorious gatekeepers of their broadcasts, the NFL has made watching NFL games a tangled web of subscriptions. Even if you still have cable, you’ll need a couple of extra subscriptions to watch every game. We’ve done our best to sort out all the complicated details for you.
If you want to watch your favorite teams battle it out this season with or without cable, here’s everything you need to know — including the cheapest possible way to do so (legally).
When does the 2026 NFL season start?
The season kicks off on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, with a Super Bowl LX rematch between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.
How to watch NFL games during the 2026–2027 season
Since no single network owns the rights to every game, watching your favorite teams isn’t as cut and dry in the NFL as it is with some other sports. And now with streaming services throwing hats in the ring, even cable TV subscribers will need a few extras to catch every game.
Here’s the general weekly schedule for the 2026–2027 season, along with which channel or streaming service you’ll need.
Thursday Night Football
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Thursday Night Football kicks off the week exclusively on Prime Video (starting week two).
Sunday afternoon games
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Sunday afternoon games air on local CBS stations for AFC teams.
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Sunday afternoon games air on local Fox stations for NFC teams.
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The local AFC games in your network will stream on Paramount+.
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The local NFC games in your network will stream on Fox One.
Sunday Night Football
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Sunday Night Football games air nationally on NBC.
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Don’t have cable? Sunday Night Football will also stream on Peacock for subscribers.
Monday Night Football
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Monday Night Football games air on ESPN, with select games simulcast on ABC.
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You can stream all ESPN and ABC games live with ESPN Unlimited.
Other exclusive games
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NFL Network will also broadcast seven different games throughout the season, including five international matchups.
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Netflix expanded its broadcast partnership with the NFL to five games this season, up from two, starting in Week 1.
Noteworthy info
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It’s ESPN’s “Year of the Super Bowl,” which means it has its largest NFL portfolio ever, airing a total of 29 games between ESPN, ABC, ESPN Unlimited, and NFL Network.
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The season kicks off on a Wednesday on NBC at 8:20 p.m. ET.
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There are nine international games this season — the most ever.
If you don’t have cable, you have plenty of options to watch games live. If you’re a casual fan, you can simply invest in a digital TV antenna to catch local games and national broadcasts live on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. Beyond football, a digital antenna will also grant you free access to local news, nationally broadcast events like the Grammys or Oscars, and other network programming. If you’re reasonably close to your local TV stations, you should be able to pick up at least the four main networks. Unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to access ESPN or NFL Network.
You can also sign up for a cable alternative like YouTube TV or Fubo to get access to local networks, plus a ton of other channels. Live TV streaming services can be pretty pricey, but you do get a lot of bang for your buck. This option will get you ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN, and NFL Network in most markets. No need to be close to your local TV stations.
With either option you choose, you’ll still have to sign up for Prime Video if you want to watch Thursday Night Football games and Netflix for its five exclusive games this season. You can also utilize streaming apps like Peacock, Paramount+, Fox One, and ESPN Unlimited to watch many in-market regular-season games. It’s all up to you and how many games you want access to (and how much money you’re willing to spend). Below, we’ve rounded up the best streaming deals for each streaming service required to watch football games this season to help you out.
Something to consider: In-market vs. out-of-market games
Before you pull the trigger on any paid TV provider or streaming service, you need to decide whether you want access to local in-market games or out-of-market games (or both). This is where watching sports gets really confusing and frustrating.
If you’re a fan of your local sports team and strictly want to watch their season unfold, a digital antenna or live TV streaming service will get the job done. You will generally only get access to in-market games, which include the teams geographically closest to you.
If your favorite teams are not geographically close to you, they will likely be blacked out unless they are national broadcasts. In this case, the only legal way you can watch out-of-market games is via NFL Sunday Ticket. A costly streaming service, NFL Sunday Ticket exclusively streams out-of-market, regular-season, Sunday football games. There are two ways to subscribe: as an add-on to a YouTube TV base plan or as an individual primetime channel on YouTube. It costs $378 as a YouTube TV add-on and $480 as a standalone service, although there are typically deals around the start of the season (more on that below).
So if you’re a Baltimore Ravens fan living in Nashville, you can watch all of the Sunday Ravens games that aren’t shown on NBC, CBS, or FOX in your area with NFL Sunday Ticket. If you’re a Ravens fan living in or near Baltimore, however, you’ll want to grab a digital antenna or sign up for a streaming service like Paramount+ or YouTube TV.
The best football streaming deals for the 2026–2027 NFL season
The best Prime Video deals
For Thursday Night Football and Black Friday
In addition to Thursday Night Football games, Prime Video is also set to stream an exclusive Black Friday game and a playoff game again this season during Wildcard weekend. Prime members get access to Prime Video included in their subscription, which costs $14.99 per month. If you’re new to Prime, you can even score a free 30-day trial before you owe a monthly fee. Here are a few other ways you can save some money.
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Best for long-term viewing: Save 22% by signing up for an Annual Prime subscription and paying $139 upfront for the whole year. That drops the cost of Prime down to just $11.59 per month instead of $14.99
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Most affordable: Ditch the Prime perks and simply subscribe to Prime Video as a standalone streaming service for just $8.99 per month — $6 cheaper than a full Prime membership.
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Best for those under 24: Prime for Young Adults, designed for those between the ages of 18 and 24, as well as college students of any age, can score a free six-month trial to Prime. After the trial, it’ll cost just $7.49 per month — a savings of 50%.
The best live TV streaming deals
For local NFL Sunday afternoon games
Sunday afternoon games are broadcast on either CBS (for AFC teams) or FOX (for NFC teams). CBS is available without cable through Paramount+, while Fox is now available through a new streaming service called Fox One (see the bundle deal under Monday Night Football). Meanwhile, live TV streaming services like Fubo, YouTube TV, or Hulu + Live TV will give you access to both CBS and FOX, although they are much more expensive. Whichever route you choose, we’ve found a few different deals currently live for the start of the NFL season. Here are our top picks.
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Best for AFC games only: Paramount+ Essential monthly subscriptions cost $8.99, but drop to $7.50 per month with an annual subscription (save 17%).
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Best for students (AFC games only): Students can get 50% off any Paramount+ plan by proving their student status through SheerID.
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Best for NFC games only: Fox One costs you $19.99 per month, but if you subscribe for the whole year, it’s just $199. That breaks down to just $16.59 monthly. If you sign up by Sept. 7, you can even save 50% on your first year (just $99 instead of $199).
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Best live TV streaming service deal overall: YouTube TV has a new Sports plan that’s just $54.99 per month for your first year. It includes both networks you’ll need to watch Sunday afternoon games, plus ESPN, NFL Network, NBC, and more.
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Most bang for your buck: Hulu’s live TV streaming service costs $89.99 per month, which includes access to 100+ channels, plus Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Unlimited.
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Another live TV streaming option: Take $10 off your first month of Fubo Sports plan, knocking it down to just $54.99. It includes access to CBS, Fox, and ESPN Unlimited.
The best Peacock deals
for Sunday Night Football
If you don’t have access to local networks via a live TV streaming service or a digital antenna, you can still tune into Sunday Night Football on NBC by signing up for Peacock. The network (and streamer) will also host the first game of the season on Wednesday, Sept. 9, a Thanksgiving Night game, as well as a Week 17 Peacock exclusive game. Subscriptions now start at $10.99 per month, but we’ve rounded up a few ways you can save.
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Best for long-term viewing: Sign up for a Peacock Premium yearly subscription for $109.99 and save 17% versus a monthly subscription, which adds up to $131.88 per year.
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Best for students: Students can sign up for Peacock Premium for just $5.99 per month for a whole year by proving their student status through SheerID.
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Best for first responders, teachers, and military: With annual verification for first responders, teachers, and military, you can get Peacock Premium for $6.99 per month and save $4 per month.
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Best Peacock third-party deal: You can get Peacock Premium for free when you sign up for Instacart+ for $99 per year.
The best ESPN deals
for Monday Night Football and the Super Bowl
With a total of 29 games between ESPN, ABC, ESPN Unlimited, and NFL Network, ESPN Unlimited is a must-have streamer if you don’t already have cable or a cable alternative. Since ESPN acquired the rights to NFL Network and RedZone, you can also stream these channels on the updated ESPN app with a bundle deal. ESPN Unlimited costs $29.99 per month on its own, but there are a few options that let you save a little cash or get more bang for your buck.
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Best for long-term viewing: Go all in on an ESPN Unlimited annual subscription for $299.99 and save 17% ($60) compared to paying monthly.
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Best bundle deal: Pay an extra $10 per month and get unlimited access to both ESPN and NFL+ with the $39.99/month ESPN Unlimited and NFL+ Premium bundle.
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Another great bundle option: Bundle ESPN Unlimited and Fox One for just $39.99 per month and save $10 per month.
What’s the cheapest way to watch NFL games this season?
Good question. If you want to watch mainly in-market and nationally broadcast games, the cheapest way to do so is to sign up for the new YouTube TV Sports plan and Prime Video. The YouTube TV Sports plan is just $54.99 per month for your first year, and Prime Video on its own costs $8.99. That’s a grand total of $63.98 per month. You’ll also have to add Netflix into the mix for a couple of months to access those exclusive games, which will increase the total to $72.97 for those months.
You could also choose to go the à la carte route and sign up for individual services like ESPN Unlimited, Fox One, Peacock, Paramount+, and Prime Video. Here’s what the price breakdown looks like at a glance.
YouTube TV Sports option
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$54.99 per month for your first year of YouTube TV Sports — includes ABC, ESPN, FOX, NBC, CBS, NFL Network
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$8.99 per month for Prime Video — Thursday Night Football
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$8.99 per month for Netflix — five exclusive games
Grant total: $63.98 per month without Netflix, $72.97 per month with Netflix
A la carte option
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$39.99 per month for ESPN Unlimited and Fox One — NFC games on Sunday afternoons and Monday Night Football games on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN+
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$10.99 per month for Peacock — Sunday Night Football games on NBC, plus Peacock-exclusive game
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$8.99 per month for Paramount+ — AFC games on Sunday afternoons
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$8.99 per month for Prime Video — Thursday Night Football
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$8.99 per month for Netflix — five exclusive games
Grant total: $68.96 per month without Netflix, $77.95 with Netflix
If you mainly want to watch out-of-market games, things look a little bit different. NFL Sunday Ticket is one of the only ways you can watch out-of-market games throughout the season. If you run and sign up before the season begins, new subscribers can score NFL Sunday Ticket for $30 per month, or $240 total for the regular season. For returning users, it’ll cost you $47.25 per month, or $378 total, with a YouTube TV subscription, or $60 per month, or $480 total, without. Check out our guide to out-of-market games for more information.
Another option for out-of-market games is to sign up for a VPN and try using a different location with any of the live TV streaming services above. For more information about VPNs and how to watch the 2026–2027 NFL season from other countries (or pretend to), check out our guide to bypassing geo-restrictions.
Source: https://mashable.com/entertainment/how-to-watch-nfl-2026-season-streaming-deals
