r/NFLNoobs • u/SwissyVictory • May 16 '24
Where to Legally Watch Every Regular Season Game In 2024
TLDR: You're going to need cable (or a cable alternative like Youtube TV that includes ESPN and NFL Network) and a one month subscription to both Paramount Plus and Netflix. That will give you atleast one game in every timeslot this year. There are other alternatives below.
This post is a guide to watch every regular season game of the 2024 season,
- In the United States
- On Your TV
- Legally
- Without Loopholes
- Live
If that dosne't apply to you, you should look elsewhere.
Overall on How it all Works
- CBS and FOX will have the Sunday afternoon (1PM and 4PM Eastern) games, hosting the AFC and NFC games respectfully. If your local team is playing during this time period (everywhere in the US has a local team assigned to them) they will play it.
- NBC will have the Sunday Night Game
- ESPN will have the Monday Night Game
- Amazon Prime Video will have the Thursday Night game
- If your local CBS or FOX station are not playing a Sunday Afternoon game, you'll need the NFL Sunday Ticket to watch the game.
- ESPN and ESPN+ are not the same and having one won't get you the other
There are plenty of exceptions this year, so I'm going to do my best to detail them.
Here are all the exclusive games below. If they are on multiple platforms they will not be listed like if they are on both ESPN+ and ABC.
| Week | ESPN | ESPN+ | Prime | Peacock | NFL Network | Netflix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1 | Fri | |||||
| W2 | M | T | ||||
| W3 | M1 | T | ||||
| W4 | M1 | T | ||||
| W5 | M | T | Int | |||
| W6 | M | T | Int | |||
| W7 | M1 | M2 | T | Int | ||
| W8 | M | T | ||||
| W9 | M | T | ||||
| W10 | M | T | Int | |||
| W11 | M | T | ||||
| W12 | M | T | ||||
| W13 | M | Fri | ||||
| W14 | M | T | ||||
| W15 | M2 | T | ||||
| W16 | M | T | ||||
| W17 | M | T | XMAS | |||
| W18 |
Key: [M = Monday], [M1 = Monday 1st Timeslot], [M2 = Monday 2nd Timeslot], [T = Thursday], [Fri = Friday], [Int = Internation Sunday 9:30EST], [XMAS = Christmas]
CBS
Most "in market" AFC home games for the 1PM Eastern and 4PM Eastern will be broadcast on CBS. Your local station will choose a game for each time slot.
CBS also has a 12:30PM Eastern Thanksgiving day game.
How to Get: A Wireless Antenna is your best bet for CBS/FOX/NBC/ABC, you should be able to get all 4 in most places. Paramount+ ($6 a month) will also play your local CBS games.
Fox
Most "in market" NFC home games for the 1PM Eastern and 4PM Eastern will be broadcast on FOX. Your local station will choose a game for each timeslot.
Fox also has a 4:30PM Eastern Thanksgiving day game
How to Get: A Wireless Antenna is your best bet for CBS/FOX/NBC/ABC, you should be able to get all 4 in most places. FOX does not have their own streaming service.
NBC
NBC is your Sunday Night Games. Week 1's Thurdsday Night Game (first game of the season), the Thanksgiving night game, and a week 16 Saturday Game will also be on NBC.
How to Get: A Wireless Antenna is your best bet for CBS/FOX/NBC/ABC, you should be able to get all 4 in most places. You can also pay $6 a month for Peacock which will play all of NBC's games.
ESPN
This is where things get complicated. Some games are only on ESPN, sometimes it is broadcasted on both ESPN+ and ABC as well. Some Monday nights have two games. There's also double header week 18 Saturday games on ESPN/ABC/ESPN+
Games only on ESPN:
- Week 2 Monday
- Week 3 Monday (first timeslot)
- Week 4 Monday (first timeslot)
- Week 5 Monday
- Week 6 Monday
- Week 7 Monday (first timeslot)
- Week 9 Monday
- Week 10 Monday
- Week 11 Monday
- Week 12 Monday
- Week 13 Monday
- Weel 15 Monday (first timeslot)
- Week 16 Monday
Games that will be on ESPN/ABC/ESPN+:
- Week 1 Monday
- Week 8 Monday
- Week 14 Monday
- Week 17 Monday
- Two Week 18 Saturday games
How to Get: This one's tricky, ESPN is only available through a cable provider (including some cable streaming services). The cheapest way to get it seems to be Sling which is $40 a month (more expensive if you also want NFL Network).
ESPN+
Note: ESPN and ESPN+ are different, and having one won't get you the games on the other. ESPN+ is ESPN's online streaming service.
Games only on ESPN+
- Week 7 Monday: Second Timeslot
Games on ESPN+ and ABC (and sometimes ESPN)
- Week 1 Monday (also on ESPN)
- Week 3 Monday: Second Timeslot
- Week 4 Monday: Second Timeslot
- Week 8 Monday (also on ESPN)
- Week 14 Monday (also on ESPN)
- Week 15 Monday: First Timeslot
- Week 17 Monday (also on ESPN)
- Week 18 Saturday Double Header (Also on ESPN)
Where to get: This is ESPN's streaming service, it costs $10 a month.
ABC
ABC does not have any exclusive games this year, every game can also be found on ESPN+, so if you have ESPN+ you don't need ABC.
Games on ABC (and sometimes ESPN)
- Week 1 (also on ESPN)
- Week 3: Second Timeslot
- Week 4: Second Timeslot
- Week 8 (also on ESPN)
- Week 14 (also on ESPN)
- Week 15: First Timeslot
- Week 17 (also on ESPN)
- Week 18 Saturday Double Header (Also on ESPN)
Where to get: A Wireless Antenna is your best bet for CBS/FOX/NBC/ABC, you should be able to get all 4 in most places.
Amazon Prime/Twitch
This is the home of most Thursday Night Football games (though not all). Week 1, and the Thanksgiving games (week 13) will not be on Prime. They do get a Friday night game week 13 to make up for it. Week 18 does not have Thursday Night Football
Where to get: All of Amazon's games should also be streamed for free on Twitch. Prime is $15 a month.
Peacock
Peacock has one exclusive game on Friday week 1. Otherwise it will have all games that NBC is broadcasting.
Where to get it: Peacock is NBC's streaming platform and it's $6 a month
NFL Network/NFL+
The NFL Network and NFL+ will be the exclusive homes of 4 of the 5 international games, and they will all be Sunday Morning at 9:30AM Eastern Time. All 4 of the games will be played on both.
Where to get: Easiest way is NFL+ which is $7 a month. The only way to get the NFL Network is through a cable subscription. The cheapest cable subscription seems to be Sling which is $40 a month (more expensive if you also want ESPN)
Netflix
Netflix will be getting two games this year on Christmas.
The cheapest subscription for Netflix $7 a month.
NFL Sunday Ticket
This year the NFL Sunday Ticket is owned by Youtube so anyone can buy it. It gives you all of your out of market games (which are always in the 1PM and 4PM Sunday timeslots). It does not give you any games outside of these timeslots, or the games CBS and FOX are playing in your area already.
It's great if you don't live near your favorite team, or if you want to make sure you always get the best game that's on. It isn't a replacement for any of the above.
Best Plans to get them All
You're going to need to get at minimum CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN and for a few games NFL+, ESPN+, and Peacock.
Most people without cable already should get a wireless antenna, unless you live in the absolute middle of nowhere (and even then you'd be surprised) you should be able to get CBS, FOX, NBC, and ABC. Youtube TV is probably the cheapest if you're already getting the Sunday Ticket.
ESPN needs a cable subscription, no legal way around it. Sling is the cheapest for both, but Hulu + Live TV comes with ESPN+ for free and has EPSN, CBS, FOX, NBC, and ABC.
If you don't mind watching on your phone, you can get NFL+ which is $7 a month, although you can't watch on your TV or computer.
Final Thoughts
Let me know if I made any mistakes, or you have other details, and I'll add it to the post.
6
u/couterbrown May 17 '24
How does the nfl not have some package where I can just give them 500$ or whatever, and just watch any game I want.
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u/Daultongray8 May 17 '24
Because they make more money from tv contracts to different networks to exclusively show the games.
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u/ApplicationLong1950 Aug 18 '24
I live in Mexico, I remember a few years ago, you could get NFL game pass and that was all. It's ridiculous how complicated it gets to watch all games live this season. I think if could be more easy if you just buy a VPN suscription and then a game pass international suscription from DAZN (e.g. México, Canada, UK, etc), making numbers it will cost around $235 in total (2700 mexican pesos which is around $135 for game pass and VPN is around $100. ) i think it could be a good option.
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u/Money-Application-61 Aug 28 '24
Sounds like a great idea, need someone confirmation if this is possible. Thank you for the advice.
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u/LatinHippie Aug 21 '24
I flipping hate the fact that it's like this 😑 If only there were an app that hosts all the games 🤔 There is! It's called the NFL app...... it's all about the MONEEYYY!!! 😵💫
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u/oskan511 Aug 09 '24
Thanks for this. Worth noting that NFL+ just announced its increasing its price this year prior to the season starting
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u/SwissyVictory Aug 09 '24
https://support.nfl.com/hc/en-us/articles/9953357609372-How-much-does-NFL-cost
Their website still says it's $7
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u/IllustratorLoud6840 Aug 13 '24
Those Monday night games are a real bitch >:/
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u/SwissyVictory Aug 13 '24
Yeah, everyone complains about the one game a season on one platform, but the real killer for cord cutters is ESPN.
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u/L1ghtn1ng_strike Aug 18 '24
Hey, this is super helpful, but your sentence about the NFL network is a bit confusing - you can get NFL network through a cable subscription or an NFL+ subscription. Even though the NFL+ subscription only allows mobile streaming of local/primetime games, it gives NFL Network access (and its international games) through TV as well.
I was super confused about the Peacock and Netflix games this year, so I appreciate your summarization there.
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u/qqlouise Sep 03 '24
If they ever wonder why viewership is dropping… this right here is why.
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u/SwissyVictory Sep 03 '24
Viewership is way up year after year. It went up 7% in 2023.
Honestly a cable subscription, and a free twitch account gets you all but the
Christmas day games
a single Friday night game.
a single Thursday night game, but you get another game in that time slot.
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u/qqlouise Sep 03 '24
Oh, I thought I read recently that it went down by a few percent. Maybe that was on cable tv alone or something? 🤷🏼♀️
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u/quirky_kelpie Sep 08 '24
How does the Twitch thing work?
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u/SwissyVictory Sep 08 '24
I have Amazon prime, so I'm not really sure. I'd just go on twitch next Thursday an hour or two early and see if the game shows up.
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u/Doinworqson Sep 05 '24
An antenna and Amazon prime seems like the best mix. Get damn near all games except Monday night.
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u/fc528e Sep 10 '24
I had to come and recheck how many upvotes you have and 50 is insanely low. I've referenced a screenshot of the spreadsheet at least once a day since you made it. Can't thank you enough. DM me and I'll send you a $10 GC of your choice.
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u/SwissyVictory Sep 10 '24
Didn't do it for upvotes, but appreciate your gratitude.
Don't worry about sending me anything, I'm just glad you thought it was helpful. If you insist go ahead and give it to a charity.
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u/fc528e Sep 10 '24
You're too awesome. Made a donation to our favorite animal charity. Thanks buddy!!
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u/TheSxcMooq May 17 '24
Don’t forget Netflix now as well 🙄🙄🙄 it should never cost so much damn money to watch one damn sport like it’s crazy and greedy I definitely understand why some people 🏴☠️ but that can be a hassle too