Price range: $6.99 per month for NFL+, $14.99 per month for NFL+ Premium
How to Stream NFL Games: The Best Apps for Football Fans
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Whether you’re away from home and don’t want to miss a game, your TV antenna has a terrible time trying to pick up your local station, or you simply prefer the convenience of enjoying NFL games streamed directly to your favorite devices, there are many quality options for streaming live football games. With that said, there are so many streaming platforms to choose from, tracking down your team’s next game, figuring out which service you need to sign up for, and setting it all up before kickoff can be a pain if you don’t know what each app has to offer.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all streaming service for football fans, but if you compare your team’s schedule to my list of apps, it’s pretty easy to plan your viewing schedule from the preseason games until the Super Bowl. I tested a variety of streaming services to keep up with the Jacksonville Jaguars over the years, and the following apps deliver the most games and entertaining extras for your hard-earned dollar.
Our top picks for how to stream NFL games
Best for watching your home team: NFL +
NFL +
If you can’t be in front of the TV while the home team is on, a $6.99 monthly subscription to NFL+ is your best bet for streaming your local champs on your smartphone or tablet. This inexpensive streaming service includes your regional team’s preseason, Sunday, and Monday night games, and includes a few neat bonuses, like the ability to listen in on any live nationally broadcast game and access to a few exclusive shows.
Note that NFL+ Premium includes these features, as well as the extensive RedZone Live Sunday broadcast for seven hours of live game coverage every Sunday throughout the season, NFL Pro for researching in-depth player stats, and more, but the upgrade will cost you more than double the price of a core NFL+ plan.
Specifications
Pros:
- Watch local live games on your phone or tablet
- Includes preseason games
- Live audio for all nationally broadcasted games
Cons:
- Genuinely cool bonuses, like the weekly 7-hour NFL Redzone broadcast, more than doubles the monthly subscription price.
The bottom line:
If you’re having trouble getting your home team on your TV, NFL+ is your best and most affordable option for watching them all season long.
Best for Monday Night Football: ESPN+
ESPN+
Since ESPN always broadcasts Monday Night Football games, you may need to try ESPN+ if you want to stream one or more of these 25 games during the 2024/2025 season. Outside of the Monday Night excitement, ESPN+ features live MLB baseball, college games, and a host of other sports to keep you entertained through the rest of the week too.
Specifications
Price range: $11.99 per month
Pros:
- Consistently covers every Monday Night Football game
- Stream on up to three different devices at once
- Compatible with a huge range of apps and platforms, including LG Smart TV, Xbox, and iPhone
Cons:
- Live NFL games are literally only shown on Mondays
The bottom line:
ESPN+ is a great deal for hardcore sports fans, but since the streaming service only showcases live NFL games on Monday nights, it may not be for every football fan.
Best for Sunday Night Football: Peacock
Peacock
Anyone subscribed to Peacock will have access to every live Sunday Night Football broadcast at 7 PM EST, and with 18 games to be played in the 2024/2025 season, it’s the perfect way for NFL fans to cap off the weekend. Peacock is an affordable option for Sunday Night games, and its sizable collection of movies, shows, and other live sports broadcasts gives this streaming service plenty of additional value.
Specifications
Price range: $7.99 for Premium, $13.99 for ad-free Premium Plus
Pros:
- Home of every Sunday Night Football game
- Plenty of other NBC/Universal shows and movies to enjoy
- Inexpensive
Cons:
- The ability to stream ad-free nearly doubles the monthly subscription fee
The bottom line:
Peacock is home to all the NFL’s Sunday Night games, and offers enough entertaining content to keep it around during the off-season too.
Best for Thursday Night Football: Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon’s Prime Video and NFL+ are the only places to watch the NFL’s 16 Thursday Night games of 2024, and since NFL+ caters to your local team, Prime Video is the superior option for consistently catching Thursday games. If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, access to Prime Video and its Thursday Night NFL streams, thousands of streaming movies, shows, and live TV channels are just some of its membership perks.
Here’s a pro tip for Prime Video subscribers: If you see an upcoming game on the schedule, be sure to click on it and enable recordings ahead of time just in case you miss tuning into the live broadcast in the future.
Specifications
Price range: $14.99 per month, included with a subscription of Amazon Prime
Pros:
- Live streaming of every Thursday Night game
- Sizable collection of bonus movies and shows
- Prime Video offers many trials and discounts for add-on streaming services like Paramount+, Crunchyroll, and HIDIVE
Cons:
- Thursday Night games are the only NFL live streams available on Prime Video
The bottom line:
If you’re already an Amazon Prime Subscriber, a season of bonus Thursday Night games is a nice extra, and worth a trial so you don’t miss an important game.
Best for NFL games on CBS: Paramount+
Paramount+
If your home team’s games are broadcast via CBS, it’s worth signing up for Paramount+ to watch weekly live streams on your TV and mobile devices. If your team is primarily shown on CBS, Paramount+ is a top place for streaming live games, but it’s also worth keeping for other sports like the PGA and various soccer leagues, as well as a variety of shows and movies from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and other channels.
Specifications
Price range: $7.99 per month for Paramount+ Essential, $12.99 per month for Paramount+ with Showtime
Pros:
- Live NFL games throughout the season
- Affordable
- Plenty of great things to watch outside of the NFL
Cons:
- Any NFL game broadcasting on non-CBS platforms like FOX and Prime Video will not be on Paramount+
The bottom line:
Paramount+ isn’t for everyone, but if your local team’s games are mostly broadcast on CBS, it’s a premier streaming experience.
Best for watching most live NFL games: fuboTV
fuboTV
Every football fan has a must-see game of the week, and fuboTV makes it easy to track that NFL game down via live broadcasts from CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, the NFL Network, and other channels. Anyone who wants to bounce between live games on Sunday or enjoy most games via a single streaming service will appreciate the wide collection of channels and streamlined design of fuboTV. Outside of the impressive number of NFL games fuboTV broadcasts each week, my favorite aspect of this service is how easy it is for customers to customize TV bundles so you’ll only spend your money on channels you’ll actually care to watch after gameday.
Specifications
Price range: Varies depending on the core streaming package and add-ons you select, but the Pro package begins at $79.99 per month
Pros:
- Live streams most live NFL broadcasts, including Sunday and Monday Night games
- Sports package includes NFL RedZone
- Large array of channels and customizable bundles to choose from
Cons:
- Fairly expensive, but worth it for live TV enthusiasts
The bottom line:
- If you want easy access to NFL games across NBC, FOX, CBS, ESPN, and more, fuboTV is certainly worth a season-long subscription or more.
What to consider when choosing a streaming service to watch the NFL games
It’s all about the games
Easily the most important factors to consider when researching streaming apps are whether they allow you to watch the NFL games you want to see, and when you want to see them. Some services only stream live games on certain days, while others allow viewers to flip between multiple games playing at the same time. Reliably punctual viewers will appreciate apps that exclusively stream live games, but other fans may appreciate a streaming service that lets them replay recent games.
Bonuses
Subscribing to different apps to catch every NFL game you want to watch throughout the season can be cumbersome, but this tactic often includes some worthwhile perks. For instance, apps like fuboTV, Paramount+, and Prime Video feature thousands of movies, shows, and live TV channels to enjoy in between games, and you may end up wanting to keep one or two of these apps long after the Super Bowl ends.
Price
The core monthly price that comes with streaming NFL games ranges from around $8 to $10 on the lower end, to over $100 each month. Although the most important thing is you can view every NFL game that you’d want to during the season, it is a general rule that the more NFL games that you can access, the more expensive it’s likely to be.
How I selected the best streaming services to watch the Super Bowl
There are many good-to-excellent apps for streaming NFL games, but there are only three that I would recommend for watching the Super Bowl: Paramount+, fuboTV, and NFL Sunday Ticket + YouTube TV.
All three are perfectly suited for viewing the official Super Bowl stream via the live CBS broadcast, and each is a great option for enjoying games throughout the season as well, so I recommend getting acquainted with at least one of these before the big game.
Some of the reasons I picked these three streaming services include:
Free trial
Although the exact terms differ between each app and are subject to change, Paramount+, fuboTV, and NFL Sunday Ticket + YouTube TV all offer a limited-time free trial period for you to see if the service is right for you. If you time it right, you’ll be able to watch the Super Bowl for free, enjoy the best of your streaming platform of choice, and learn if it’s a good fit for your streaming habits outside of the big game.
CBS broadcaster
The only place anyone can officially watch the Super Bowl live is via CBS, and each of these three apps include live streaming CBS broadcasts.
Versatility
Some NFL fans will want to see the Super Bowl on the biggest TV they own, while others need the ability to watch via their smartphone, PC, or tablet. The good news is that my three picks are compatible with almost every modern device, but I highly recommend double-checking in advance so you aren’t disappointed if it doesn’t work when you absolutely need to watch the game.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What is the duration of the NFL season?
The 2024 NFL season officially kicked off on September 5th, with the playoffs slated to begin on January 11th, and Super Bowl LVIII (58) is set for February 9th, 2025. The NFL season lasts for 18 weeks, with each team playing for 17 games and taking a single bye week.
How many Monday Night Football games are there in 2024?
There are 18 Monday Night Football games scheduled for the 2024-2025 season, and they are all available to stream on ESPN+.
Can I stream NFL football for free?
Although the most convenient way to watch Thursday Night Football on your favorite devices is Prime Video, you can tune in for the same games via Amazon-owned Twitch via their “PrimeVideo” channel to see 17 Thursday games in 2024 for free.
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