The summer is winding down, which means the return of cooler weather, Spirit Halloween stores and football. We are less than two weeks away from the start of another NFL season.
The 2025 NFL season kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 4, in Philadelphia with the Super Bowl champion Eagles opening their title defense against the Dallas Cowboys in primetime on NBC and Peacock. The following night, the Chiefs and Chargers face off in Brazil for a game that will — in an NFL first — stream live free on YouTube. Then we’ll get to the first full Sunday of games on Sept. 7 before week 1 concludes with a Monday Night Football game in Chicago between the Vikings and Bears.
With the start of the season nearing, it’s time for fans to map out how to watch or stream NFL games over the 18-week regular season. Let’s huddle up and break down your 2025 NFL viewing options and my recommendation for the best way to stream the season.
TV channels and streaming services needed for NFL football
The broadcast schedule for the upcoming season is largely the same as it was last year, with Sunday afternoon games airing on CBS and Fox, Sunday night games on NBC, Monday Night Football on ABC and ESPN, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, two Christmas Day games on Netflix and a handful of games played in Europe shown exclusively on the NFL Network. And the aforementioned Friday night week 1 game in Brazil that you can watch free on YouTube.
Other than the YouTube game, what’s new for NFL fans this year is the addition of two new direct-to-consumer streaming services just launched from ESPN and Fox that give you more options to watch more games without a cable or satellite TV service. Or, for that matter, without needing a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV or Fubo.
Here are the networks that will broadcast games this season:
- CBS: Sunday afternoon games
- Fox: Sunday afternoon games
- NBC: Sunday Night Football
- ESPN: Monday Night Football
- ABC: Two Monday Night Football games
Most NFL games are played on Sunday, with a game each week on Monday and Thursday nights. On Sundays, games start around 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) and 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT), with most AFC teams on CBS and most NFC teams on Fox. NBC has the primetime Sunday night game, and Monday Night Football games will be on ESPN and/or ABC. There are four Monday night doubleheaders, two of which will feature a game exclusive to ABC. The rest of the MNF slate you can watch on ESPN each week.
You can get the above five TV channels with a live TV streaming service. You can also use four direct-to-consumer streaming services to watch the games on the above five channels:
- Paramount Plus: CBS games
- Fox One: Fox games
- Peacock: NBC games
- ESPN DTC: ESPN and ABC games
In addition, there are three other streaming services you’ll need if you don’t want to miss any NFL games:
- Prime Video: Thursday Night Football, Black Friday game and a Wild Card playoff game
- Netflix: Two Christmas Day games
- NFL Plus: Seven NFL Network games
With the exception of the three games on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday Night Football games will be shown on Amazon’s Prime Video. Amazon’s Week 13 game will take place on Black Friday.
For the second year, Netflix will air a pair of games on Christmas Day. This year, the Cowboys and Commanders play the first Christmas game followed by the Lions and Eagles.
The NFL continues to expand its international slate with games this year hosted in Berlin, Dublin and Madrid in addition to three games in London. These six international games plus a Saturday afternoon game in Week 17 will be shown exclusively on NFL Network.
What are my streaming options for NFL games in 2025?
Four of the five live TV streaming services (all but Sling TV) carry the five networks — ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC — needed to watch the NFL each week of the season. And three of those four (all but DirecTV Stream) carry the NFL Network with their base plans.
For the games on CBS and Fox, keep in mind that not every streaming service carries every local network, so check each one using the links below to make sure it carries ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox in your particular area.
With the just-launched ESPN DTC and Fox One streaming services, NFL fans have an alternative to a live TV streaming service (or cable or satellite TV). With four DTC services — ESPN, Fox One, Paramount Plus and Peacock — you can watch the games on ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC. And this method will cost less than paying for Fubo, Hulu with Live TV or YouTube TV. It will, however, make it clunkier to toggle between the CBS and Fox games on Sunday afternoons because instead of just changing channels, you’ll need to switch services, from Fox One to Paramount Plus and back.
Here’s the math:
Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV each costs $83 per month. (Fubo is $85 per month.) So, for the four-month season from September through December, you’ll pay $332.
Compare that with the four streaming services:
- ESPN DTC: $30 per month
- Fox One: $20 per month
- Paramount Plus: $8 per month
- Peacock: $11 per month
That works out to a total of $69 per month or $276 for the season. And it’ll soon be even less because ESPN and Fox announced a deal where you can bundle their new services for a combined $40 a month starting Oct. 2. So, if we subtract $10 per month for the last three months of the season, you’ll pay $246.
Whether you pay for a live TV streaming service or the streaming quartet above, you’ll still need Prime Video for Thursday Night Football. And for total coverage, you’ll need a Netflix subscription for the two games on Christmas and a way to watch NFL Network for its seven exclusive games.
Assuming you already subscribe to Amazon Prime and Netflix, let’s talk about the two ways you can get NFL Network. It’s included in the base plans with Fubo, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV. If want to go the a la carte route for streaming the NFL, then you can get NFL Network with an NFL Plus subscription for $7 per month. You can watch the seven exclusive NFL Network games with NFL Plus and watch your mobile device, computer, game console or TV. In addition, NFL Plus also lets you watch any local or national games regardless of whether they air on ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC or Prime Video, but those streams are limited to just watching on a phone or tablet.
Best for NFL streaming: YouTube TV
My pick from the last couple of years remains my go-to choice heading into the 2025 season: YouTube TV
Priced at $83 per month (without RedZone, $94 with), YouTube TV checks all the NFL boxes and is the best sports streaming service for NFL fans. Local channels ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are included in many markets, as are ESPN and the NFL Network so you can watch Sundays and Monday nights. Not only is it the cheapest live TV streaming service with all the channels needed to watch the NFL but it also supports multi-view where you can watch up to four games at once.
Fubo and Hulu with Live TV are the two streamers that offer all the channels needed for NFL football, including NFL Network, in their base package. Hulu with Live TV costs $83 a month and lets you add RedZone for an extra $10 a month but lacks multiview. Fubo has multiview and costs $85 a month with RedZone adding an extra $10 a month.
A la carte NFL streaming quartet option
If you don’t want to subscribe to YouTube TV or another live TV streaming service, you can watch all the games shown on Sunday afternoons on CBS and Fox, Sunday nights on NBC and Monday nights on ESPN/ABC with Paramount Plus, Fox One, Peacock and ESPN DTC for a total of $64 a month. That’s $19 less per month than YouTube TV.
Thursday Night Football: Amazon Prime Video
Games on Thursday nights are available only on Prime Video, giving NFL fans more incentive than free two-day shipping to sign up for an Amazon Prime account for $15 a month or $139 a year. Those who just want Prime Video can get it for $9 per month.
The full list of Prime Video games can be found on Amazon’s site here.
What about NFL Sunday Ticket and RedZone?
YouTube and YouTube TV remain the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket, the plan that lets you watch every out-of-market game on Sunday afternoon. Without Sunday Ticket, you’ll be able to watch only your local team’s games on Sunday afternoon along with a couple other games on CBS and Fox that start at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) and 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT) on Sunday.
For the 2025 season, NFL Sunday Ticket costs for $276 for new subscribers and $480 for returning subscribers.
A cheaper option to watch at least snippets of games outside of your local area is NFL RedZone, a channel that springs to life each fall and bounces around between all the Sunday afternoon action. Airing from 1 p.m. ET until around 7 p.m. ET when the late games finish, RedZone is commercial free and provides a great way to keep tabs on all of your fantasy football players on Sundays. RedZone is available as an add-on for $10 to $15 a month to all five major live TV streaming services.
A la carte NFL streamers can get NFL Network with a premium NFL Plus subscription. The NFL Plus Premium plan costs $15 per month (or $100 annually). Like with the NFL Network, NFL Plus Premium will let users stream RedZone on TVs and computers in addition to their phones and tablets.
The VPN option for out-of-market viewing
Another option is to use a VPN to stream NFL games that are outside of your local broadcast area. A VPN encrypts your traffic and prevents your internet service provider from throttling your speeds, and can also be helpful when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks while traveling, adding an extra layer of protection for your devices and logins.
VPNs are meant to protect your privacy online, but you can also use a VPN to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to access geographically restricted streaming content such as out-of-market NFL games. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it easy to do this. Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US and Canada, and can be used for legitimate purposes such as improving online privacy and security.
However, some streaming services may have policies restricting VPN use to access region-specific content. If you’re considering a VPN for streaming, check the platform’s terms of service to ensure compliance.
If you choose to use a VPN, follow the provider’s installation instructions, ensuring you’re connected securely and in compliance with applicable laws and service agreements. Some streaming platforms may block access when a VPN is detected, so verifying if your streaming subscription allows VPN use is crucial.
Where can I stream NFL games free?
If you have an over-the-air antenna and live in an area with good reception, you can watch NFL games on your local CBS and Fox stations on Sunday afternoons, Sunday Night Football games on NBC and most Monday Night Football games on ABC. It’s not exactly free, but a good antenna costs as little as $30 and doesn’t require a monthly subscription.
If you are already paying for a TV package that includes NFL Network, you should know that it shows live game action on Sunday afternoons, including in-market and out-of-market games. Again, it’s not exactly free but is probably included in something you are already paying for. The NFL Network’s coverage on Sundays is not as fast-paced as the action on NFL RedZone, but NFL Network is included in the basic channel lineup of most live TV streaming services (all but DirecTV Stream). In contrast, RedZone requires the purchase of a sports add-on package that costs an extra $10 to $15 per month.
All the live TV streaming services allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.
