The NFL season kicks off this Thursday (Sept.5). Baltimore Ravens vs. Kansas City Chiefs will mark the first of 285 NFL games needed to crown a Super Bowl winner this year.
That's a lot of games. And if you look at our guide on how to watch every NFL live stream, you'll notice that you need a lot of streaming services to watch all 285 games, especially since some of those games are exclusive to certain streaming services, like Thursday Night Football on Prime Video.
In addition to Prime Video, Peacock and Netflix both have exclusive games this season. ESPN Plus also has an NFL game exclusive to its platform in Week 7. Thankfully, while Paramount Plus also offers NFL games, you can at least watch those games on CBS or NFL Sunday Ticket, so you don't need to subscribe to Paramount Plus to watch the NFL this year.
So if you need to know how much it costs to watch every second of football, here’s a quick guide to the streaming services you’ll need to subscribe to each month to watch the games. We also tell you how much these services all cost if you want to watch every single game this season.
Season-long subscriptions
If you want to watch every game during the day on Sunday, you'll need NFL Sunday Ticket. Sunday Ticket offers every out-of-market NFL game that kicks off on Sunday afternoons (Eastern time zone). Unless you also sign up for YouTube TV, a subscription for the 2024-25 season will cost you $479*.
So that covers a lot of football, but not everything. And importantly, it doesn't cover your local games! For that, you want to also opt for YouTube TV, which costs $72.99 a month and gets you $100 off on Sunday Ticket.
Alternatively, you can check out our best antennas to get games from Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC over the air, provided your local station is showing them. But you will miss out on some ESPN-exclusive Monday Night Football games.
*Discounts currently available for select subscribers
If you want to watch every single game of the 2024-25 NFL season though, you need Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you'll spend $816.94 over the course of the NFL season. That includes a season-long subscription to Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV and six months (Sept.-Feb.) of YouTube TV.
Season-long subscriptions cost: $816.94
September
Okay, so with Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you have access to every NFL game on Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN and NFL Network. Thankfully, that covers a lot of football.
Unfortunately, though, it doesn't cover every single game. In September alone, you'll need to subscribe to Peacock and Prime Video on top of Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV. That will set you back an extra $16.98.
Granted, you could sign up for Amazon Prime ($139 per year) and get Prime Video included, but for this exercise let's assume you only want Prime Video.
Here are all the games you'll need a streaming service to watch in September:
Peacock:
September 6: Green Bay vs. Philadelphia (game in Brazil)
Prime Video:
Sept. 12: Buffalo vs. Miami
Sept. 19: New England vs. New York Jets
Sept. 26: Dallas vs. New York Giants
September streaming subscriptions cost: $16.98
October
Good news! Once October rolls around, you can cancel that Peacock subscription. While Prime Video gets a game every Thursday night (except Week 1), Peacock just has one game this year.
Unfortunately, you do need ESPN Plus this month. Even worse — it's even more expensive than Peacock. A monthly subscription to ESPN's streaming service will cost you $11.99 in October, meaning you'll need to spend an extra $20.98 to watch every NFL game this month.
ESPN Plus:
Oct. 21: Los Angeles Chargers vs. Arizona
Prime Video:
Oct. 3: Tampa vs. Atlanta
Oct. 10: San Francisco vs. Seattle
Oct. 17: Denver vs. New Orleans
Oct. 24: Minnesota vs. LA Rams
Oct. 31: Houston vs. NY Jets
October streaming subscriptions cost: $20.98
November
Feel free to breathe a sigh of relief this month. In November, the only extra streaming service you need is Prime Video, setting you back just $8.99. Hopefully you're able to do some Black Friday shopping with those savings before sitting down to watch Prime Video's exclusive Black Friday NFL game.
Prime Video:
Nov. 7: Cincinnati vs. Baltimore
Nov. 14: Washington vs Philadelphia
Nov. 21: Pittsburgh vs Cleveland
Nov. 29: Las Vegas vs. Kansas City
November streaming subscriptions cost: $8.99
December
All I wanted for Christmas this year was not to spend too much money on NFL games. But with Netflix getting two exclusive Christmas Day games, it looks like I won't get my wish.
You'll need to add a month of the streaming giant to your budget this month, in addition to continuing your Prime Video subscription. For Netflix's cheapest plan, that means another $6.99 out of your pocket.
Netflix
Dec. 25: Kansas City vs. Pittsburgh
Dec. 25: Baltimore vs. Houston
Prime Video:
Dec. 5: Green Bay vs. Detroit
Dec. 12: LA Rams vs. San Francisco
Dec. 19: Cleveland vs. Cincinnati
Dec. 26: Seattle vs. Chicago
December streaming subscriptions cost: $15.98
January
Unfortunately, you still need Prime Video in January. The streaming service is getting an exclusive NFL playoffs Wild Card game this year. Once it's scheduled, we'll update accordingly.
Prime Video:
TBD: NFL Wild Card game
January streaming subscriptions cost: $8.99
February
Don't worry. Your YouTube TV subscription is enough to watch Super Bowl 2025 on Fox.
In fact, you could cancel your subscription to the cable alternative this month and use an antenna. However, that might ultimately not save you much money if you opt for a quality antenna.
How much it'll cost
Okay, let's recap.
For the entire 2024-2025 NFL season, you’ll need to sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket, which costs $379, as well as YouTube TV, which starts at $72.99/month. This gets you every Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN and NFL Network game.
NFL Sunday Ticket: $379
YouTube TV: $437.94 ($72.99/month)
Next, you’ll need Peacock, but just for the first week of the season. That's only one month. Peacock's cheapest plan is $7.99/month.
Peacock: $7.99
To watch the Thursday Night Football games from Week 2 on — plus an exclusive Wild Card playoff game — you’ll need a subscription to Prime Video. You can get Prime Video with an Amazon Prime membership for $15/month or $139/year; if you want to sign up for just the football season, that will run you $75. Or, you can get Prime Video by itself for just $8.99/month
Prime Video: $44.95 ($8.99/month)
In an annoying twist, you'll also need ESPN Plus for one month. The Week 7 Monday Night Football game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Arizona Cardinals is only on ESPN's streaming service. One month of ESPN Plus on that day will cost you $11.99 thanks to a new price hike.
ESPN Plus: $11.99
If you want to watch the NFL games on Christmas Day, you’ll need to subscribe to Netflix. Its cheapest plan is Netflix Standard with ads, which costs $6.99/month.
Netflix: $6.99
TOTAL: $888.86
Yes, that's right. You'll spend nearly $900 to watch every single NFL game this season.
Discounts
If you're still suffering from sticker shock, I have good news. There might be a few ways to trim a few bucks off this tab.
For starters, if you’re only interested in your local team, then you can get one of the best TV antennas for as little as $17 and watch all of your team’s games over the air.
Comcast subscribers can sign up for a streaming bundle that includes Netflix, Apple TV, and Peacock for $15 per month. That checks two of the streaming services you'll need off your list.
Verizon customers with an unlimited plan have a few options. First, there's a bundle that includes Disney Plus Premium, Hulu with ads, and ESPN Plus for just $10/month.
Alternatively, Verizon also offers a Netflix and Max bundle that’s also just $10/month. It won't bring down the cost of your Netflix subscription per se, but you're getting Max — one of the best streaming services — for just a few dollars more.
But the best offer for Verizon customers gives you NFL Sunday Ticket for free. Eligible wireless customers and eligible home internet customers can get Sunday Ticket at no charge for a limited time. Eligible home internet customers can even score a discount on YouTube TV!
Finally, T-Mobile customers with a Go5G plan can get Netflix for free, saving you $6.99 in December.
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