The NFL season is nearly a month old, and if you have yet to find a good way to watch the games each week without cable or resorting to sketchy streaming site, then I’ve got a bundle idea for you.
Last year, fans who cut the cord often had to lean on live TV streaming services like YouTube TV, which cost about $83 a month. This season looks different. With new standalone apps and updated skinny bundles, it’s possible to put together a package that delivers the games you want for less.
Both ESPN and Fox have launched direct-to-consumer streaming services that give fans new options outside of the usual bundles. On top of that, platforms like Fubo and Sling are offering slimmer packages that cover most — though not all — of the channels needed to catch every matchup week after week.
I broke down the channel lineups, compared prices and tested combinations to see which setup works best. If you want to follow the season without overspending, here’s how to stream NFL games in 2025 and the best service combo for football fans.
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The winning combination is the new Fubo Sports skinny bundle paired with Peacock. Keep reading to find out why this is the best option for NFL fans this season and why YouTube TV is still a good choice, especially if you aren’t already a subscriber.
NFL channel lineup
The NFL season is split across six channels:
- CBS: Sunday afternoon games
- Fox: Sunday afternoon games
- NBC: Sunday Night Football
- ABC/ESPN: Monday Night Football
- NFL Network: seven international games played in Europe
Not included in the above are Thursday Night Football, which streams on Prime Video, and the two Christmas Day games on Netflix. For the purposes of this exercise, I’m going to assume you have an Amazon Prime account that lets you watch the TNF games on Prime Video and that you have a Netflix account or will be spending Christmas with someone who has Netflix for the two Christmas Day games.
Streaming a la carte option
I first investigated using the new ESPN DTC and Fox One streaming services, along with Paramount Plus and Peacock, to watch the NFL this season. The coverage works out like this:
- Paramount Plus: Sunday afternoon CBS games
- Fox One: Sunday afternoon Fox games
- Peacock: Sunday Night Football on NBC
- ESPN DTC: Monday Night Football on ESPN/ABC
Pricing is as follows:
- Paramount Plus: $8 per month
- Fox One: $20 per month
- Peacock: $11 per month
- ESPN DTC $30 per month
That works out to a total of $69 per month or $276 for the four-month season. And it’ll soon be even less because ESPN and Fox announced a bundle 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 for this quartet for the NFL season that runs from early September to early January.
There are two reasons why I don’t like this plan. First, it doesn’t save you all that much money compared to the other options, as you’ll see below. Second, switching between the CBS and Fox games on Sunday afternoons would be a lot slower and clumsier because you’d have to close Paramount Plus and then open Fox One and vice versa just to change channels. I’d much rather be able to toggle between CBS and Fox on the same service.
So, that led to my skinny bundle research.
Sports-focused skinny bundles from Fubo and Sling
Fubo and Sling TV each released skinny bundles geared toward sports fans, but neither offers all the channels you need to watch the NFL.
Sling’s new skinny bundle costs $20 a month and includes NBC along with ABC and Fox stations in select markets and NFL Network. It does not, however, offer CBS or ESPN. So, if you go with the $20-a-month Sling Select plan, you would then need to get Paramount Plus for $8 a month for Sunday afternoon CBS games and the DTC ESPN app at $30 a month for Monday Night Football. That’s a total of $58 a month or $232 for the four-month season.
Fubo’s new skinny bundle costs $56 per month and includes ABC, CBS and Fox as well as ESPN and NFL Network. The missing piece is NBC for Sunday Night Football, so you’d need to pair it with the $11-a-month Peacock Premium for a total of $67 a month. And right now, Fubo Sports is $10 off for the first month. So, for the season, Fubo Sports would cost $214 and Peacock would cost $44 for a total of $258.
Of the two skinny bundle combinations, the Fubo-and-Peacock plan is the better option. Even though it costs more than my Sling/Paramount Plus/ESPN plan, I like the idea of watching the CBS and Fox games on Sunday afternoons on Fubo and using Peacock only for the Sunday night game when it’s the only game on. Plus, keeping track of which games are on which service is easier with two streaming services than the trio required if you go the Sling route.
In both cases, you would spend less than with YouTube TV. YouTube TV currently has a deal, however, that keeps the costs pretty close if you aren’t already a subscriber. Right now, new customers can get the first two months of YouTube TV for $50 a month, which means for the NFL season, you would pay $266. But the price for current subscribers is $332.
The two best NFL streaming options
| YouTube TV | Fubo Sports and Peacock Premium | |
| Cost per month | $83 | $56 + $11 = $67 |
| Current discounts for new subscribers | $50/month for first two months | Fubo Sports for $46/month for first month |
| Cost for 4-month NFL season for new subscribers | $266 | $258 |
| Cost for season for current subscribers | $332 | N/A |
| Add RedZone? | $11/month add-on | $10/month add-on |
| Cost for season with RedZone for new subscribers | $310 | $298 |
| Cost for season with RedZone for current subscribers | $376 | N/A |
Fubo Sports availability by NFL city
| Fubo Sports? | |
| AFC East | |
| Buffalo Bills | No |
| Miami Dolphins | Yes |
| New England Patriots | Yes |
| New York Jets | Yes |
| AFC North | |
| Baltimore Ravens | Yes |
| Cincinnati Bengals | Yes |
| Cleveland Browns | Yes |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | Yes |
| AFC South | |
| Houston Texans | No |
| Indianapolis Colts | No |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | Yes |
| Tennessee Titans | No |
| AFC West | |
| Denver Broncos | Yes |
| Kansas City Chiefs | Yes |
| Las Vegas Raiders | No |
| Los Angeles Chargers | Yes |
| NFC East | |
| Dallas Cowboys | Yes |
| New York Giants | Yes |
| Philadelphia Eagles | Yes |
| Washington Commanders | No |
| NFC North | |
| Chicago Bears | Yes |
| Detroit Lions | Yes |
| Green Bay Packers | No |
| Minnesota Vikings | Yes |
| NFC South | |
| Atlanta Falcons | No |
| Carolina Panthers | Yes |
| New Orleans Saints | No |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | No |
| NFC West | |
| Arizona Cardinals | Yes |
| Los Angeles Rams | Yes |
| San Francisco 49ers | Yes |
| Seattle Seahawks | Yes |
Of the 100 metro markets where Fubo Sports is currently available, it’s available in 20 NFL cities, but with New York and Los Angeles having two teams each, that’s 22 of the league’s 32 teams.
It pays for existing YouTube TV subscribers to switch
When you factor in the current YouTube TV and Fubo Sports discounts for new subscribers, you’d save only $8 by going with my recommended pairing of Peacock and Fubo ($12 if you include RedZone.) In this case, I recommend YouTube TV because of the ease of having one streaming service for watching NFL football instead of two.
YouTube TV is the best single streaming service for football fans. It’s the cheapest live TV streaming service that has all the NFL channels and multi-view that lets you watch up to four games at once. Fubo’s standard plan is a close second; it costs only $2 more per month than YouTube TV, includes all the channels you need for NFL games and offers multi-view.
The math is different for existing YouTube TV subscribers. If you don’t want to watch RedZone with its new commercials, you’ll save $74 over the course of the season if you unsubscribe and switch to Fubo Sports and Peacock. And if you include RedZone in the equation, existing YouTube TV subscribers would save $78 this season by switching to the duo of Fubo Sports and Peacock.
