Die-Hard NFL Fan? Fantasy Football Guru? Casual Watcher? Here’s the Best NFL Streaming Package for Every Fan

The NFL is roaring back to life with some major changes in 2023. Whether you’re a die-hard fan, a casual viewer, or a budget-conscious household, there’s a streaming service that will work best for you. We’ll break down the price for each option and the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Die-Hard NFL Package

Okay, football fan. If money is no object and you want every single game and all football analysis at your fingertips, here’s what you’ll need: NFL Sunday Ticket, Peacock, NFL+, Prime Video, ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, NBC, and NFL Network. You may also want your Regional Sports Networks for mid-week updates and postgame analysis.

Is that a lot? Yes!

But if you’re truly crazy about football, this package maxes out on what you’ll be able to see.

What this package gives you: Every game (local and out of market), Manningcast games, game replays, coaches’ film, NFL RedZone.

The most price-effective way to get all this would be to grab DIRECTV STREAM (sign up for a 2-year plan and they’ll send you a $400 Visa gift card to cover NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube), Prime Video, and NFL+. You will eventually need ESPN+ and Peacock for their exclusive games, but you can wait until the last minute to sign up.

Recommended Package for Die-Hards

• DIRECTV STREAM: All Sunday and Monday football coverage on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, and NBC, regional sports network coverage
• NFL Sunday Ticket: All out-of-market Sunday games (get it for free after the DIRECTV STREAM Visa card)
• Prime Video: Thursday Night Football
• NFL+: NFL Network and NFL RedZone, full, condensed, and all-22 coaches film replays
• Combined Monthly Price: $99 after promo discounts expire (add up to $16 for the Peacock and ESPN+ exclusive games when they air)

(You could get NFL Network and NFL RedZone through DIRECTV STREAM, but it’s slightly cheaper with NFL+ and you get the added bonuses of replays and coaches film with NFL+.)

How to Get $400 Visa Gift Card from DIRECTV

• Click here to sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket. Make sure you choose a plan that does not include YouTube TV.
• Save your proof of purchase.
• Click here to choose from standard DIRECTV plans.
• Sign up for a two-year contract with DIRECTV, then submit your proof of NFL Sunday Ticket purchase within three billing cycles to get a $400 Visa gift card.

Fantasy Football Package

If you play fantasy football, you’ll need to keep eyes on the entire league. While you might think NFL Sunday Ticket is the way to go, that’s actually a terrible choice. Even if you’re watching four games at once, you’re also sitting through injuries or time-outs. It’s not practical to try to watch the full games.

Instead, fantasy owners are better off with NFL RedZone on Sundays. Host Scott Hanson will bring you seven straight hours of football without commercials. You’ll zip from game to game, seeing all the biggest plays and every single touchdown. It gives you an action-packed overview that keeps you informed and entertained, giving you an edge over your competitors who only watch three or four games every Sunday.

NFL RedZone is available on DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV. You’ll need to pay up a bit to get the channel added to the base package, but it’s worth it if you love football.

Another option is to get RedZone on your TV through NFL+, but we don’t recommend that. The NFL+ option leaves you without games on Sunday or Monday night, and RedZone is the same price or even less expensive if you bundle it with a wider TV lineup.

Remember, you should also get Prime Video for Thursday nights, NBC or Peacock for Sunday nights, and ESPN for Monday nights. ABC also carries a handful of exclusive Monday night games this year.

Recommended Package for Fantasy Football Fans

• Sling TV: All Sunday and Monday football coverage on ABC, ESPN, Fox, NBC, NFL Network, and NFL RedZone (Note: some markets do not carry FOX, NBC, or ABC).
• Prime Video: Thursday Night Football
• Combined Monthly Price: $79 after first-month discounts or $64 if you get the 5-month discount package on Sling TV

The Single Team Mega-Fan Package

If you only care about one NFL team, you have tons of options if that team is local. You’ll be able to watch most games on your local CBS or Fox affiliate. In fact, even the Thursday Night Football games will air locally, so you wouldn’t need Prime Video.

Now, you would still need NBC for Sunday Night Football and ABC or ESPN if your team appears on Monday Night Football. If your team plays a game overseas, you’d need NFL Network. And there are a couple of exclusive games on ESPN+ and Peacock.

So it really depends on your team’s schedule. We have the broadcast schedules for every NFL team, so take a closer look and our site will guide you to what you need.

In almost every case, DIRECTV STREAM is the most straightforward solution. Some teams are more tricky, but our team pages will break down what you need.

If your favorite team plays out of your market, the only real solution to see full games on your TV is to get NFL Sunday Ticket. While you can get that as a standalone feature on YouTube, it’s very, very expensive. It may make more sense to grab a 2-year subscription to DIRECTV stream, and they’ll give you a $400 gift card to pay for Sunday Ticket.

The Gambler Lineup

If you love to put money on the games, you’ll want to be able to watch as much football as possible in the most efficient way. On Sunday afternoons, that means NFL RedZone is your best friend. You’ll also want to be able to watch the overseas games, Thursday nights, and Monday nights. If you don’t mind missing the couple of games on Peacock and ESPN+, that will save you a few bucks. (But if you gamble, maybe you want every chance to wager.)

Recommended Package for Gamblers

• Sling TV: All Sunday and Monday football coverage on ABC, ESPN, Fox, NBC, NFL Network, and NFL RedZone (Note: some markets do not carry FOX, NBC, or ABC).
• Prime Video: Thursday Night Football
• Combined Monthly Price: $79 after first-month discounts or $64 if you get the 5-month discount package on Sling TV

Casual NFL Watcher

If you like the NFL, but you don’t need wall-to-wall coverage, we recommend having NFL RedZone on TV during Sunday afternoons. It’s always action-packed, and you don’t have to stay glued to the TV to enjoy yourself. The quality of play on Thursday nights isn’t always great, so you could save a little by skipping Prime Video.

Recommended Package for Casual Fans

• Sling TV: All Sunday and Monday football coverage on ABC, ESPN, Fox, NBC, NFL Network, and NFL RedZone (Note: some markets do not carry FOX, NBC, or ABC).
• Monthly Price: $55 if you get the 5-month discount package on Sling TV

Budget-Friendly Package

Again, Sling TV gives you the best bang for the buck. Sign up for a 5-month package and it’s the absolute cheapest way for you to watch ABC, ESPN, Fox, NBC, NFL Network, and NFL RedZone, though some markets don’t have those local channels.

Recommended Package for Budget-Conscious Fans

• Sling TV: All Sunday and Monday football coverage on ABC, ESPN, Fox, NBC, NFL Network, and NFL RedZone (Note: some markets do not carry FOX, NBC, or ABC).
• Monthly Price: $55 if you get the 5-month discount package on Sling TV

If you don’t care about night games on Sunday or Monday, you can just save by getting the NFL+ premium plan. That gives you just two channels: NFL Network and NFL RedZone. It’s not a great value overall, especially compared to Sling TV’s 67 channels for $55, but if you can’t afford Sling and you’re totally strapped, NFL+ can help.

What if I’m Totally Broke?

If you’re down to your last dime and you need some football, the solution is simple.

Just get an antenna.

Yes, really.

An antenna is a one-time cost, and it just plugs into the back of your TV.

When you do this, you should be able to get an HD signal for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC.

If you choose the antenna route, you will miss out on most Monday night games (ESPN) and all the Thursday night games (Prime Video). Since Prime Video offers a 30-day free trial, you could just wait until you see a stretch of four games you like and enjoy those for free.

An antenna won’t help if you want to track a team outside your broadcast market, but the price is unbeatable.

If your local team appears most often on CBS, an inexpensive fix is a Paramount+ subscription, since that service offers all the games that appear on your local CBS channel.

The Sunday-Only Fan

If work or other obligations keep you from watching weekday football, you will be able to save more money than most NFL fans. You won’t need Prime Video or ESPN.

If you want RedZone, just grab Sling TV (Blue package) and the Sports Extra add-on for $11. That Sling TV Blue package gives you NFL Network for the games played in Europe. It also includes ABC, Fox, and NBC in most markets, so you’d be able to watch any games appearing on those channels.

Recommended Package for Fans Who Only Watch on Sundays

• Sling TV: All Sunday football coverage on ABC, Fox, NBC, NFL Network, and NFL RedZone (Note: some markets do not carry FOX, NBC, or ABC).
• Monthly Price: First month for $31, $51 after that. You could also get 67 channels including ESPN for a total of $55/month if you get the 5-month discount package on Sling TV

What Other Services Are Available?

While Sling TV seems to make the most sense for most football fans, there are some other live TV streaming services available.

Fubo

Fubo is a fine service and offers all the football channels you might need. We don’t recommend them frequently since all users are forced to pay for regional sports networks (unlike DIRECTV STREAM, which makes it optional). That added fee sends the price soaring to the highest base price in the industry.

Hulu Live TV

If you really want ESPN+, Hulu Live TV might be a good choice since the subscription automatically includes free ESPN+ and Disney+. Unfortunately, the cost of this service is going up in October. Hulu Live TV is an excellent choice for some TV watchers, but Sling TV is far less expensive and DIRECTV STREAM offers a superior channel lineup in the same price range.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV made a big splash by grabbing the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, and it’s a fine service. If you really need Sunday Ticket, you can simply subscribe via YouTube and still watch on TV. Our main issue with YouTube TV is its lack of flexibility. There’s just one main tier with 114 channels.

In contrast, DIRECTV STREAM offers four different main packages (90-223 channels, depending on price). DIRECTV STREAM also offers a huge lineup of regional sports networks not available on YouTube TV.

While DIRECTV STREAM wins on channels, Sling TV wins easily on price. When you have lower prices and better channel lineups available elsewhere, it’s hard to see why YouTube TV should be a top choice.