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Want to watch every NFL game on TV this season? Bring your wallet
With the continued growth of streaming services, making everything from live sports to original programming available at a click of a button, it is a good time to be a sports fan.
Albeit a pricey one.
The NFL is set to unveil their full 2024 schedule later tonight, but we already know a few features regarding the upcoming schedule.
Including a number of games that will be exclusive to streaming services.
For example, the Thursday night games are exclusive to Amazon Prime Video, and the streaming service Peacock is going to have exclusive games as well. It was also announced that Christmas Day games are going to be broadcast on Netflix.
So just how much might it cost if you wanted the ability to see every NFL game this season?
It will not be cheap.
Let’s start with NFL Sunday Ticket, which moved from DirecTV to YouTube TV for last season. This service allows fans to watch every “out of market” game on the Sunday afternoon slate, and is fantastic if, for example, you are a New England Patriots fan living in Maryland.
Not that I am speaking from experience …
For subscribers to YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket can be added, and a current promotion is available where you can subscribe to both for $179 a year. If, however, you are not a YouTube TV subscriber — and do not intend to become one because you already use another live TV streaming service such as Hulu — then the NFL Sunday Ticket package will cost you $350.
And we are just getting started.
With Amazon Prime Video serving as the home for Thursday night games, you are looking at another $139 for a year of that service. If, however, you just want to subscribe to Amazon Prime Video on a month-to-month basis during the NFL season to get the Thursday night games, you are looking at $14.99 per month from September through December.
However, Amazon Prime Video will also be streaming a playoff game, so you need to have that subscription in place through January.
All told, that will cost you $74.95.
Then there is Netflix, which will have exclusive rights to the two games on Christmas Day. A Netflix subscription costs $6.99 a month, so to have access to those games you are looking at another $6.99 for the month of December.
Then there is the Peacock streaming service, which will have exclusive rights to the Friday night game in Week 1 between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles, from Brazil. For at least one month of Peacock, you are looking at another $5.99 (which is a bargain considering you can also stream every episode of Travis Kelce’s pre-Taylor Swift era dating show, Catching Kelce).
So, let’s add this together. If you are already a YouTube TV subscriber — or plan to become one — you start with the $179 for the NFL Sunday Ticket package that includes YouTube TV. Add in another $74.95 for the months you need Amazon Prime Video, another $6.99 for the Netflix games on Christmas Day, and the final $5.99 to see the Packers-Eagles game in Week on on Peacock, and you are looking at $266.93 total.
However, that is the cheapest possible option, while limiting the subscriptions to only the months you need. If you are not a YouTube TV subscriber, the NFL Sunday Ticket package will run you $350 at the start, and if you subscribe to each of the other services for a full year — or forget to cancel them — then the grand total would come to $644.76.
Again, this is an incredible time to be a sports fan, given the vast amounts of live coverage available.
It is also becoming a costly time to be a sports fan.
