How much would it cost to watch every NFL game on TV?

The NFL kicks off its 2024 season on Thursday, and if there’s one thing the league can count on, it’s that millions of Americans will tune in.

The NFL is the most popular television product in America. And it’s not even close. To wit: Of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in 2023, 93 were NFL games. In fact, the Top 20 was made up of NFL broadcasts, and only the State of the Union address kept the NFL from sweeping the Top 50. When the NFL is live, millions of Americans watch it — it’s as sure as death and taxes.

Both the NFL and its streaming partners are well aware of this. And if you’re a fan, you’ve likely felt it in your wallet. With the rise of streaming, the NFL has spread its broadcast rights across multiple platforms. Here’s the list of channels, networks, and streaming services that have exclusive rights to NFL games in 2024:

• CBS

• FOX

• NBC

• alphabet

• Peacock

• NFL Network

• Amazon Prime

• ESPN

• ESPN+

• Netflix

• YouTube Television

That’s almost an NFL property for every major streamer – Apple narrowly missed out and while HBO has Hard knocksdoes not broadcast any matches.

To be clear, most fans don’t watch every NFL game. They tune in to their favorite team, the primetime matchups, and the occasional random game. But what if someone wanted to watch every NFL game? Or, more realistically, what if most fans at least wanted the option to watch any game they choose? The cost is staggering.

By my calculations, the minimum price would be $891.36. That’s a steep price to pay to watch football from the couch, but many Americans would gladly pay it.

What channels are the different NFL games broadcast on?

Let’s take a step back and look at which games are being broadcast on each broadcaster. The NFL has cleverly divided up its streaming rights to maximise profits. New entrants like Netflix or Prime are willing to shell out billions to get a slice of the NFL pie, while the league’s long-standing partners are unlikely to complain – after all, the NFL has all the clout.

Here’s how NFL broadcast rights are split between broadcasters for the 2024-25 season. And just to be clear, we’re not including preseason games because, well, those don’t really count.

CBS

CBS and Paramount+ are the AFC’s home channels. Every NFL Sunday, you’ll be able to watch a local team game, a national game, or a combination of both between the 1 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. AFC playoff and championship games will also air on CBS.

FOX

FOX is basically CBS, but for the NFC. This is something NFL fans know and have been drilled into their heads for years.

NBC

The marquee Sunday Night Football The games air on NBC, which has become a go-to destination for the biggest NFL games each week. NBC will also air the season opener this Thursday and one of the Thanksgiving Day games, but it’s worth noting that they’re not technically part of the broadcast. Thursday Night Football package.

Peacock

NBC’s streaming service Peacock will also feature one exclusive game this year: Friday’s matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers, which will be played in Brazil.

NFL Network

Four separate international games will air on NFL Network, as will a number of yet-to-be-decided Saturday games later in the season.

Amazon Prime

Prime will broadcast Thursday Night Football in weeks 2-17 and exclusively broadcast a playoff game.

ABC/ESPN

ESPN has the rights to Monday Night Football. Some games also air on ABC and some weeks there are doubleheaders with one game airing on each channel.

ESPN+

This year, ESPN’s premium streaming service will also have its own exclusive game. The Week 7 game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Arizona Cardinals will be available only on ESPN+.

Netflix

Netflix also has NFL games this season. It will stream two games exclusively on Christmas Day.

YouTube Television

YouTube TV has the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, which is the primary way to access out-of-market, non-primetime games.

How much does all this cost?

Overall, the total comes out to $891.36. To arrive at that figure, I had to make some assumptions. I started from scratch, assuming our hypothetical NFL fan had no cable package, no existing streaming subscriptions, and no shared accounts — meaning they couldn’t piggyback on someone else’s Netflix. I also only factored in the cost from the start of the NFL regular season in September through the Super Bowl in February.

Given these assumptions, the most cost-effective option for accessing most NFL games is YouTube TV. The main reason is that YouTube TV owns the exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, which gives you access to most non-primetime games that aren’t broadcast on your local FOX or CBS affiliate. Therefore, it’s a must-have option for serious fans. YouTube TV offers a Sunday Ticket deal that costs four payments of $158.99 ($94.75 for NFL Sunday Ticket and $64.24 for the basic YouTube TV plan) for the first four months, and then $72.99 per month for the YouTube TV subscription thereafter.

If you sign up at the sweet spot in September, the total you’ll need to pay is $781.94 to watch the Super Bowl. The good news is that YouTube TV, in addition to exclusive access to Sunday Ticket, includes most of the channels you’ll need for NFL coverage: CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, ESPN and NFL Network are all part of the basic package.

That leaves you with the need for Amazon Prime, Netflix, Peacock, and ESPN+. Figuring out the exact cost of these services is tricky because, in theory, a user could take advantage of free trials. However, they might forget to cancel them. For simplicity, I assumed our fan paid a monthly subscription for each service during months when the platform had at least one NFL game. I also assumed they were canceled as soon as the games ended. Based on this, you’d need five months of Prime ($74.95), one month of Netflix ($15.49), one month of Peacock ($7.99), and one month of ESPN+ ($10.99).

If you add these costs to YouTube TV’s Sunday Ticket costs, the total comes to $891.36. If you include the playoffs, there are a combined total of 285 games in an NFL season. That means each game costs about $3.13, though of course you can’t buy streaming of individual games.

Of course, the actual cost may be higher or lower. Few people are completely without any of these services, and many may have access to a shared password or two. But if you’re already a cable subscriber (perhaps because you have a package that includes internet), you could pay even more, since you’d still need Sunday Ticket via YouTube. But to be clear, there are much more reasonable options than shelling out nearly a thousand dollars to watch the NFL on TV. A service like Sling Orange, for example, might get you ESPN and your local CBS/FOX affiliate stations for $40 a month. You could also subscribe to Sling Blue, which comes with NFL Network and you can then upgrade to pay $51 a month to include RedZone as well.

But still, being a die-hard NFL fan isn’t cheap. $891.36 is a hefty amount of money to watch every game, but when you consider that the average ticket to see a live game in 2023 was around $370, maybe watching from home isn’t such a bad deal after all.