Where to Watch NFL Football in the USA - 2025/26 Season
The NFL is America's game - and the 2025/26 season is bigger than ever. From the roar of Week 1 kickoffs to the spectacle of Super Bowl LX, NFL football dominates American sports culture like nothing else. Whether you're catching Thursday Night Football with friends or streaming a late Sunday game on your phone, here's every way to watch the NFL this season.
Season 2025/26 - Last updated: 2026-03-27
ESPN / ABC TV - Monday Night Football & Playoffs
ESPN and its sister broadcast network ABC are home to Monday Night Football, one of the NFL's most storied television traditions. Playoff games and Super Bowl coverage also land on ABC, making this duo essential for any serious football fan. ESPN's studio coverage and analysis is unmatched - from NFL Countdown to the live post-game breakdowns. Access via cable, satellite, or any major live TV streaming package.
Fox Sports TV - Sunday NFC Games
Fox is the NFC's broadcast home, airing the biggest Sunday afternoon games from the conference, including key divisional matchups and NFC playoff games. Fox's NFL coverage has built a loyal following thanks to its talent roster and big-game atmosphere. Many games air on the Fox broadcast network itself - free over the air with an antenna - making it one of the most accessible options for cord-cutters.
CBS Sports TV - Sunday AFC Games
CBS is the AFC's television home, broadcasting Sunday afternoon games from the American Football Conference throughout the regular season and into the playoffs. CBS's NFL team is one of the best in the business - sharp analysis, strong production, and full coverage of every AFC postseason game through to the Super Bowl when it's CBS's turn to host the big game.
NBC / Peacock TV + Streaming - Sunday Night Football
Sunday Night Football on NBC is the most-watched primetime program in American television, year after year. NBC's broadcast network airs the marquee Sunday night game every week, while Peacock streams additional exclusive NFL content. SNF's production quality and presentation set the gold standard for live sports television. Al Michaels's spiritual successor in the booth continues a broadcasting tradition that defines Sunday nights in America.
Amazon Prime Video Streaming - Thursday Night Football
Thursday Night Football has found its digital home on Amazon Prime Video, making it the first major US sports package to move exclusively to a streaming platform. The production quality is top-tier - Al Michaels's legacy echoes through TNF's broadcast standards. If you have Prime membership, TNF is included at no extra cost. Amazon's X-Ray stats and alternate broadcasts make the streaming experience genuinely innovative compared to traditional TV.
NFL+ Streaming - Live Local & On Demand
NFL+ is the league's own streaming service, offering live local and primetime games on mobile devices, full game replays, condensed game versions, and NFL Films content. The Premium tier adds full game replays on all devices and live NFL RedZone. For fans who want every piece of NFL content in one place - including the hard-to-find stuff - NFL+ is the dedicated option that no third-party service can fully replicate.
NFL broadcasting rights in the United States
The NFL's US broadcast deals represent the most valuable sports television contracts in history. The league's agreements with Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN/ABC, and Amazon Prime Video are collectively worth over $100 billion across their multi-year terms running through the late 2020s and into the 2030s. Each network has carved out its own identity: Fox owns Sunday afternoons in the NFC, CBS rules the AFC Sunday slate, NBC anchors Sunday primetime, ESPN dominates Monday nights, and Amazon has made Thursday Night Football a streaming-first phenomenon. No other sports property commands this level of multi-platform investment from the American media industry.
For fans trying to watch every game, the fragmented rights landscape means no single subscription covers everything. The most cost-effective setup for a cord-cutter combines a digital antenna (for free CBS and NBC games), YouTube TV or Hulu Live (for ESPN and Fox), and Amazon Prime (already useful for shopping). NFL+ fills the gaps with mobile streaming and on-demand replays. NFL Sunday Ticket - available through YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels - is the premium add-on for out-of-market games, letting you watch any game airing outside your local broadcast window.
The Super Bowl remains the single most-watched television event in American history, regularly drawing over 100 million viewers. Super Bowl LX in the 2025/26 season will air on a rotating broadcast network (Fox, CBS, NBC, or ESPN/ABC) and stream simultaneously online. American football has also been aggressively expanding internationally, with regular-season NFL games now played in London and Frankfurt drawing capacity crowds - proof that while the NFL is rooted in American culture, its ambitions are unmistakably global.
