How to Watch NFL Games Without Cable in 2024

Verizon NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube
Store: Verizon
Price: Free

Shop select phones and get NFL Sunday Ticket for free when you purchase a new line. You'll have to opt for either a new Unlimited Plus or Unlimited Ultimate Plan in order to redeem this offer, and you have to take advantage of the offer by December 12. This promotion also requires a Google account and a current form of payment.

How to Stream NFL Games Live Online Without Cable

ESPN Plus

If you're ready to dive into football, it makes sense to start with ESPN Plus. While you can get the service on its own for just $10.99 per month, some would argue it's a much better deal to spring for one of the Disney Trio bundles. For just $14.99 per month, you can get Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus. Prefer no ads? It'll cost you slightly more at $24.99 per month, but you can get the same three services plus ad-free streaming for Disney Plus and Hulu for the higher price.

The biggest thing to note here is that if you're viewing through ESPN Plus, you'll only be able to view select ESPN and/or ABC Monday Night Football games, as well as "a divisional playoff game." Unfortunately, what you don't get is a much longer list, including:

• Local games on Fox
• Local games on CBS
• Sunday Night Football on NBC
• Monday Night Football (aside from those listed above)
• Thursday Night Football games
• NFL Network games

That's a lot of exclusions, so this may not be the option for you, especially if you're hoping to watch a lot of NFL games this season.

Hulu + Live TV

It's one of the more pricey options at $76.99 per month, but if you have the room in your budget, you may want to consider subscribing to Hulu + Live TV to get your NFL fix this year. But you may be thinking "It's still ESPN Plus! How is this better than just buying the service directly??" And to that we say, well, the live TV option here makes all the difference. Because of that, you can expect to have access to the following sportsball fun with a subscription to Hulu + Live TV:

• Local games on Fox
• Local games on CBS
• Sunday Night Football on NBC
• Monday Night Football on ESPN
• NFL Network games

That's a fair bit more than you'll get with a direct ESPN Plus subscription! So if you get all of that, then what are you missing out on? Well, Hulu + Live TV won't include the following:

• Thursday Night Football games
• Out-of-market games

It's not perfect, but it's still a fair amount of football to partake in, no matter who you're rooting for.

Peacock

Peacock might not be the first service that comes to mind when you think about streaming NFL games, but maybe it should be! It'll depend on what you're interested in seeing, but Peacock will allow you to stream the entire Sunday Night Football schedule, as well as an exclusive September 6 game.

SEE ALSO: The Best 2024 Streaming Bundle Deals for Peacock, Hulu, and More

It's not all good news, though. While you'll get all the Sunday Night Football games, you won't have access to the following through Peacock:

• Local games on CBS
• Local games on Fox
• Monday Night Football on ESPN
• Thursday Night Football games
• NFL Network games
• Out-of-market Sunday afternoon games

As you can see, Peacock can provide more than some but it's still missing the whole picture for hardcore football fans.

Paramount Plus

All that brings us to Paramount Plus, yet another option for viewing football games in the prime of the season. This one might be one of — if not the most — limited of options on this list. Why? Because a subscription to this service means you can watch local games on CBS. That's it. If you want a full list of what you're missing out on with Paramount Plus, here's the list:

• Local games on Fox
• Sunday Night Football on NBC
• Monday Night Football on ESPN
• Thursday Night Football games
• NFL Network games
• Out-of-market Sunday afternoon games

It's not hard to see that this option might only be good for those that are interested in the local games on CBS. Otherwise, there are better options that give you at least a little more to watch.

Other Services That Stream NFL Games

There are certainly other ways to stream NFL games and we're going to highlight those now.

Amazon Prime Video: You don't have to have Amazon Prime to have the streaming Prime Video service, which makes this a more affordable option than it might appear at first. The streaming video service is $8.99 per month and, as the link above shows, provides access to Thursday Night Football games.

DirecTV Stream: There are a few options here, with the most affordable being the Entertainment tier at $79.99 per month. Choice is $108.99 per month and Ultimate is $119.99 per month, although right now there's a promotion taking $30 off every package for three months, which drops the Entertainment one to a price of $49.99 per month. Entertainment includes more than 90 channels with things like ESPN and ESPN2 on the roster, but the higher tiers will provide more sports channels as well.

Fubo: While the platform has three different tiers for sports viewers, you can save on the first month of Pro, Elite with Sports Plus, and Deluxe at the time of publication. The Pro plan is the lowest of the tiers and normally costs $80 per month, but right now you can get it for $50 for the first month. Doing so will enable you to watch the following:

• Local games on Fox
• Local games on CBS
• Sunday Night Football on NBC
• Monday Night Football on ESPN
• NFL Network games

The only things you won't get with the Pro plan of Fubo are Thursday Night Football games and out-of-market games.

NFL Plus: If you want to watch NFL games, where better to go than straight to the source? NFL Plus will set you back $6.99 per month, while NFL Plus Premium is $14.99 per month. The biggest note here is that you'll only be able to watch games on your phone or tablet. That said, you can watch local games on Fox and CBS, Sunday Night Football on NBC, Monday Night Football on ESPN, Thursday Night Football games, and NFL Network games on mobile only via NFL Plus.

Sling TV: You can get this service for as little as $20 for your first month, but you may want to combine Orange and Blue for the most NFL access this season. The normal price of doing so is $55 per month but you'll be able to watch local games on Fox and Sunday Night Football on NBC in select markets for both, along with Monday Night Football on ESPN and NFL Network games.

YouTube TV: Specifically you'll want NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV, which you can get for $158.99 per month right now (after that, YouTube TV will cost you $72.99 per month to keep the subscription). Springing for this will allow you to watch local games on Fox and CBS, Sunday Night Football on NBC, Monday Night Football on ESPN, and NFL Network games. Plus, there are other ways to save if that price tag is too much for your budget, including a student discount.

Where to Watch 2024 NFL Games

NFL Week 1 Schedule

Teams Playing	Date and Time	Viewing Options
Ravens vs. Chiefs	9/5 at 8:20 pm	Fubo NFL+ Peacock YouTube TV
Packers vs. Eagles	9/6 at 8:15 pm	NFL+ Peacock YouTube TV
Panthers vs Saints	9/8 at 1:00 pm	Fox Sports NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Vikings vs. Giants	9/8 at 1:00 pm	Fox Sports NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Patriots vs. Bengals	9/8 at 1:00 pm	Fubo NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Steelers vs. Falcons	9/8 at 1:00 pm	Fubo NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Texans vs. Colts	9/8 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Cardinals vs. Bills	9/8 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Titans vs. Bears	9/8 at 1:00 pm	Fox Sports NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Jaguars vs. Dolphins	9/8 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Broncos vs. Seahawks	9/8 at 4:05 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Raiders vs. Chargers	9/8 at 4:05 pm	Fubo NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Cowboys vs. Browns	9/8 at 4:25 pm	Fox Sports Fubo NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Commanders vs. Buccaneers	9/8 at 4:25 pm	Fox Sports NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Rams vs. Lions	9/8 at 8:20 pm	Fubo NFL+ Peacock YouTube TV
Jets vs. 49ers	9/9 at 8:15 pm	Fubo NFL+ Sling TV YouTube TV

NFL Week 2 Schedule

Teams Playing	Date and Time	Viewing Options
Bills vs. Dolphins	9/12 at 8:15 pm	NFL+ Prime Video YouTube TV
49ers vs. Vikings	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Seahawks vs. Patriots	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Giants vs. Commanders	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Chargers vs. Panthers	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Saints vs. Cowboys	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Colts vs. Packers	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Browns vs. Jaguars	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Jets vs. Titans	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Buccaneers vs. Lions	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Raiders vs. Ravens	9/15 at 1:00 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Rams vs. Cardinals	9/15 at 4:05 pm	NFL+ YouTube YouTube TV
Bengals vs. Chiefs	9/15 at 4:25 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Steelers vs. Broncos	9/15 at 4:25 pm	NFL+ Paramount+ YouTube YouTube TV
Bears vs. Texans	9/15 at 8:20 pm	Fubo NFL+ YouTube TV
Falcons vs. Eagles	9/16 at 8:15 pm	Fubo NFL+ YouTube TV

Note that these schedules are in ET, so make sure you tune in at the right time to catch your favorites. For more information, you can also check these schedules to find out where to watch on TV as well.

More to Know About Watching NFL Games Without Cable

How Can You Watch NFL Games for Free?

As we noted in our NFL preseason piece, there's not really a lot of ways to watch NFL games for free — at least for long. Your best bet is going to be to take advantage of free trials and time them well to be able to get the most out of your experience.

Remember that Hulu + Live TV is only going to give you a free trial period of three days, while Paramount Plus will give you a week-long trial and YouTube TV will allow you to watch for free for 10 days. Aside from these options, DirecTV Stream will provide you with five days free and Fubo is another that'll let you watch for free for an entire week.

Can You Watch NFL Games With Amazon Prime?

Yes, you can indeed watch (some) NFL games with Amazon Prime! The good news is that you can get a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime if you don't have it already, and during that time you can get Prime Video benefits for free, too. You'll be able to use your Prime Video access to watch Thursday Night Football games and an exclusive Wild Card game in January 2025. And if you don't want Amazon Prime in its entirety, remember you can get Prime Video on its own for just $8.99 per month.

What Viewing Packages Does the NFL Offer?

There are a few different viewing packages from NFL to watch games.

First up is the NFL app, which allows users to stream games that are being broadcast locally in your market on Sundays.

But if you want to watch out-of-market games, you'll need to look beyond the NFL app. There's NFL Plus which will allow you to watch live local and out-of-market games on the base tier. If you opt for the premium tier, you can also watch replays.

The last option is, of course, NFL Sunday Ticket, and while you can spend $449 for just Sunday Ticket, that hefty price does mean you'll be able to watch the entire lineup of out-of-market games this season.

Can You Watch NFL Games With an Antenna?

As we discussed in our preseason piece, you can indeed watch NFL games with an antenna. The biggest problem here is going to be that using an HD antenna means you'll be limited to whatever is airing locally. If you want to see other games, you're going to need to look into one of the other options above.

What's the Best Way to Watch NFL Games Without Cable?

Ultimately, you're probably going to have to write down some pros and cons of the all options covered here. For each one, you'll want to consider which games are included with each service (or service tier), plus if you'll have access to any extra NFL features such as replays, live programming, and audio. And then you'll likely want to consider the rest of your household and how they're going to feel if you opt in for only sports packages. In some cases, a bundle may be the best way to go to save both money and provide enough diversity that you don't have a mutiny on your hands for the duration of the NFL season.

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