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I’m bringing back my NFL Guide to Cord Cutting after a 3-year hiatus because there are so many guides out there that are essentially useless and/or incorrect when it comes to describing how to cut the cord but watch the NFL. So read below for the various options that exist to get your NFL fix for as cheap as possible.
DISCLAIMER: This work was put together using data from various sources. As such, if you come across something that is inaccurate, please feel free to reach out to me to correct it via email realcordcutters@outlook.com or Twitter: @RealCordCutters or by leaving a comment below. My goal is to make a comprehensive and accurate guide that can help people quickly & easily decide how to watch as much college football as they want for the cheapest possible method. Unlike other cord cutting websites, we welcome and encourage reader feedback, both positive and negative. For updates, please look for the ► sign (alt + 16 to type it) with a date following it; these indicate changes, additions, corrections, etc.
First, I’m going to give a brief summary of some of the changes for the upcoming 2022 season. After that will be a brief discussion about local/national vs out-of-market games. Then I’ll give an overview of the various tv channels that will carry NFL games in 2022, the different broadcast windows that exist in 2022, and how to watch NFL games for free. Then I’ll cover the main streaming services available to watch the NFL. After that, there are a few “Things to Know” followed by some reference charts and a section on the NFL Playoffs. The guide will then finish with a brief summary of the various ways to watch NFL games including my personal rankings.
CHANGES FOR THE 2022 SEASON
*The free Yahoo mobile streaming rights are gone; now it
costs $5/month to watch games on phones & tablets via NFL+, which also
replaces Gamepass
*FuboTV removed the Starter Plan (its cheapest plan) and
moved 4K content to the Elite Plan (previously it was included in all plans at
no extra cost) for new subscribers
*Hulu Live added the enhanced DVR to all plans and also
has a plan without Disney+ & ESPN+ for $1/month cheaper than the regular
rate
*DirecTV Stream improved its DVR by offering Unlimited
Space to all customers
*Vidgo introduced the Premium Plan with DVR service and
raised its price on the Plus plan by $5/month
*ESPN+ raised its monthly price by $3/month (to $9.99/month) and its annual
price by $30 (to $99.99/year)
KEY TERMS TO
KNOW
Designated Market Area (DMA) – a geographic
region, defined by Nielsen Media Research that receives the same (or similar)
television stations. The DMA that you
are located in determines which local broadcast stations you receive, although
cable companies are free to carry channels from outside the DMA without any
type of waiver. To see a map of all US
DMAs from 2019, click here.
Regional & National Broadcasts – NFL games can either be a local or national broadcast. A national broadcast shows one game over the entire country on a given channel while a regional broadcast will have different games showing on a given channel in different parts of the country. The most common examples of a regional broadcast are the 1:00 PM ET and 4:05/4:25 PM ET Sunday broadcast windows where different cities get different games depending upon geography, importance of game, and other rules. An example of a national broadcast is Sunday Night Football which shows one game at 8:20 PM ET to the entire country.
TV CHANNELS
ESPN/ABC – ESPN airs Monday Night Football every Monday night at 8:15 PM ET. Each week there is one game aired except for week two this year when a doubleheader is aired at 7:15 PM ET & 8:30 PM ET. ABC will air five Monday Night Football games in 2022 with 4 of them also airing on ESPN; the week 2 game is the only one exclusive to ABC.
CBS – CBS airs regional coverage each Sunday in either a singleheader, one game at 1:00 PM ET or 4:05 PM ET, or a doubleheader, one game at 1:00 PM ET and another game at 4:25 PM ET. CBS owns the rights to the AFC package and typically airs games where an AFC team is the away team, although cross-flexing now allows AFC games to air on FOX.
FOX – FOX airs regional coverage each Sunday in either a singleheader, one game at 1:00 PM ET or 4:05 PM ET, or a doubleheader, one game at 1:00 PM ET and another game at 4:25 PM ET. FOX owns the rights to the NFC package and typically airs games where an NFC team is the away team, although cross-flexing now allows NFC games to air on CBS.
NBC – NBC airs Sunday Night Football, which is a national broadcast airing every Sunday night at 8:20 PM ET. NBC will also air two Thursday night games throughout the season at 8:20 PM ET with one being the Thanksgiving night broadcast and the other being the opening game of the season on the first Thursday.
NFL Network – NFL Network (NFLN) will seven exclusive games in 2022 with three being international games airing on Sunday mornings @ 9:30 AM ET, three occurring on a Saturday in December, and a game on Christmas eve at 8:15 PM ET.
NFL Network RedZone – NFLN RedZone (NFLN RZ) is a highlight channel that jumps between live games and usually airs on Sundays from 1:00 PM ET to 8:00 PM ET. It highlights important plays as they happen and shows replays of plays that just occurred. Please note that there is another channel called “Red Zone Channel” which is only available to DirecTV customers that subscribe to the NFL Sunday Ticket Max package. These are two completely different channels although their setup is very similar.
TV Everywhere Apps – Many cable channels now have a live stream of their channel available to watch online for authenticated subscribers. ESPN makes all its programming available via the ESPN app while FOX uses the FOX Sports app to watch FOX sporting events. CBS streams its football games through the Paramount+ app (more on that below in “STREAMING SERVICES”) which can be purchased via a separate subscription. NBC streams its games through the NBC Sports App while NFLN & NFLN RZ streams through the NFL & NFL Network apps.
BROADCAST
WINDOWS
The following information will cover the various regular season
broadcast windows and types of coverage that exist including days, times,
channels, and more. For information on
playoff games, see “NFL Playoffs” later in the document.
Sunday Afternoon Regional Coverage
·
Every Sunday CBS and FOX air different games in
each regional market starting at 1:00 PM ET.
One network will have a doubleheader and will air a second game at 4:25
PM ET while the other network, with a singleheader, will also air games at 4:05
PM ET, but only to those markets that did not have a game air at 1 PM ET. This is true for every week except two weeks
(week 1, week 18) when both CBS and FOX air doubleheaders.
· The individual stations have a right to request a specific game for each window but ultimately the networks determine which game each station must air.
Monday Night Football
·
Every Monday night at 8:15 PM ET, ESPN airs a
game nationally to the entire country, Monday Night Football (MNF), except for
Week 2 when they will air two games, starting at 7:15 PM ET & 8:30 PM
ET. Several games (5) will also air on
ABC this year.
· MNF is also aired concurrently on an over-the-air (OTA) broadcast channel in the markets of both the home and away teams. The specific channel varies by team.
Thursday Night Football
·
Thursday Night Football (TNF) is a package of 15
Thursday night games that start at 8:15 PM beginning with Week 2 of the
season. All games will be streamed by
Amazon Prime only beginning this year.
They will also be streamed via the Twitch app.
· TNF games are also aired concurrently on OTA broadcast channel in the markets of both the home and away team similar to MNF. The specific channel varies by team.
Sunday Night Football
· Sunday Night Football (SNF) is a package of 18 Sunday night games and 2 Thursday night games aired exclusively by NBC at 8:20 PM ET. The Thursday night games are the opening game of the regular season (hosted by the defending Super Bowl Champion each year) and the Thanksgiving night gamex
Other Broadcast Windows
·
There will be several games aired on Saturdays
in 2022. NFLN will air 3 games on
Saturday December 17th and ABC will air 2 games on January 7, 2023.
·
International Games
o The
NFL will play four games in Europe this fall with all of them set to start at
9:30 AM ET; three will air on NFLN while one will air on ESPN+.
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STREAMING
SERVICES
Sling TV
o
Orange ($35/month), Orange Sports Add-on
($11/month)
o
Blue ($35/month), Blue Sports Add-on ($11/month)
o
Orange + Blue ($50/month), Orange + Blue +
Sports Add-on ($65/month)
·
Channels:
o
Orange – ESPN
o
Blue – FOX, NBC, NFLN
o
Blue Sports Add-on – NFLN RZ
·
# of Streams: Orange (1 stream); Blue (3
streams)
· DVR: 50 hrs (free), 200 hrs ($5/month)
Summary: Sling TV (Sling) is a great option for NFL fans in that it is still the cheapest way to get ESPN, NFLN and/or NFLN RZ. However, it’s coverage of OTA networks is very limited which means that those who cannot get OTA stations via antenna should probably look elsewhere. Plus, it’s DVR is much worse than the other options. Also, it only offers 1 simultaneous stream of all Orange (ESPN) channels, which doesn’t matter so much for NFL games, but could be important if you are interested in watching college football as well.
Vidgo
·
Plans:
o Plus
($60/month), Premium ($80/month)
·
Channels:
o Plus
– ABC, FOX, ESPN, NFLN
o Premium
– NFLN RZ
·
# of Streams: 3
· DVR: 20 hrs (Premium only or first 90 days of Plus for new subscribers)
Summary: Vidgo loses a lot of desirability with the move of NFLN RZ to the Premium plan. Previously, it was the cheapest available option to get ESPN, NFLN, and NFLN RZ, but that is no longer the case. Coupled with the lack of OTA networks (ABC, CBS) and relatively small DVR, I can’t recommend Vidgo anymore unless it has other non-NFL channels that you want.
DIRECTV STREAM
·
Plans:
o
Entertainment ($70/month), Choice ($90/month), Ultimate ($105/month)
·
Channels:
o Entertainment
– ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN
o The
more expensive packages do not have any other channels which air NFL games
·
# of Streams: 20 in home, 3 outside of home
· DVR: Unlimited space
Summary: DIRECTV STREAM is my lowest rated option when it comes to NFL viewing primarily because of its lack of both NFLN and NFLN RZ. That, combined with the relatively high price point for each of its packages, makes it a poor option, in my opinion. However, since it does carry all Regional Sports Networks, I could understand why some may choose it as they want those networks for other sports. But overall, it provides a relatively limited NFL viewing experience.
FuboTV
·
Plans:
o Pro
($70/month), Elite ($80/month), Sports Plus Add-on ($11/month), RSN fee
($3-9/month-certain markets)
·
Channels:
o Pro
– ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, NFLN
o Sports
Plus – NFLN RZ
o Elite
Plan does not have any additional NFL related channels
·
# of Streams: 10
·
DVR: 1000 hrs
Summary: FuboTV is a decent choice for hardcore NFL fans in that it offers all the broadcast networks along with NFLN and NFLN RZ. However, it’s price point is a bit higher than both YouTube TV and Hulu Live for comparable packages, although it does include 10 streams in all packages. So if you factor in the need for more than 2-3 simultaneous streams, it might actually come out cheaper than those options.
Hulu Live
·
Plans:
o Base
Plan ($70/month) or $69/month without Disney+ & ESPN+ access, Sports Add-on ($10/month)
·
Channels:
o Base
Plan: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, ESPN+, NFLN
o Sports
add-on: NFLN RZ
·
# of Streams: 2 with the option of purchasing
“unlimited” streams for an extra $10/month
o Unlimited
Screens Add-on includes unlimited streams at home and max 3 streams outside of
home
· DVR: Unlimited space
Summary: Hulu Live is carries all the linear networks and streaming networks (except for Amazon Prime) that will air games this season and its DVR is now much more comparable to other services. Thus, if you need ESPN+ and/or Disney+, it’s probably the best option for NFL fans. The only areas where it is worse than FuboTV and YouTube TV are the smaller number of simultaneous streams in its base plan (2 vs 10 vs 3) and its lack of 4K content. But overall, it makes an excellent choice for watching the NFL.
YouTube TV
·
Plans:
o Base
Plan ($65/month), Sports Plus Add-on ($11/month)
·
Channels:
o Base
Plan: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, NFLN
o Sports
Plus Add-on: NFLN RZ
·
# of Streams: 3
o 4K
Plus add-on includes unlimited streams on the home network in addition to 3
streams outside the home
· DVR: Unlimited Space
Summary: As mentioned previously, YouTube TV (YTTV) is very similar to both Hulu Live & FuboTV in that all offer the 4 OTA networks, ESPN, NFLN, and NFLN RZ. However, YTTV has a slightly cheaper price for its base plan compared to the other two. It also has an unlimited DVR (which FuboTV doesn’t have) and one more stream (3 vs 2) than Hulu Live. Those features along with the ability to watch 4K content (for an extra fee) makes it my number one choice for a streaming service for most NFL fans.
ESPN+
·
Plans:
o Base
Plan ($10/month or $100/year)
·
Channels:
o Base
Plan – ESPN+ only
· # of Streams: 5
Summary: ESPN+ will only feature one game this year (Denver vs Jacksonville), but many people subscribe to it for other events such as college football, soccer, college basketball, etc. However, if you are solely interested in the NFL, then it probably has little value outside of that one live game.
Best For: Broncos & Jaguars fans that are
out-of-market
Worst For: Pretty much everyone else
Amazon Prime – Amazon won the rights to exclusively stream 15 Thursday Night Football games beginning 2022 and will offer them as part of Prime Video. Previously Amazon had streamed some TNF games that also aired on broadcast networks. Amazon Prime costs $14.99/month or $139/year which includes both shipping benefits and access to Prime Video. A membership to Prime Video only costs $8.99/month.
Twitch – Twitch is a live streaming video platform, owned by Amazon, that will also stream the 15 Thursday Night Football games that Amazon Prime will air in 2022. However, the app is free and does not require any kind of subscription unlike Amazon Prime.
Paramount+ – Paramount+ is a streaming service owned by CBS which provides a live feed of all local CBS stations in addition to on demand episodes of CBS programs including all of its Sunday afternoon games. The service costs $4.99/month (Essential) or $9.99/month (Premium) which does not feature any advertisements, although it does have local advertisements on the live stream of local stations. NFL games are carried on the Essential plan, but the Premium plan is required for live streams of local CBS stations. It can make a nice complement to streaming service which doesn’t include your local CBS station if you’re not able to receive it via an antenna.
Peacock – Peacock is a streaming service owned by NBC which provides live sports and on demand episodes of NBC programs including all of its Sunday Night Football games. The service costs $4.99/month or $49.99/year (Premium) or $9.99/month (Premium Plus) which does not feature any advertisements, except for a few brief exceptions. SNF games are carried on the Premium plan. It can make a nice complement to streaming service which doesn’t include your local NBC station if you’re not able to receive it via an antenna.
NFL+ – NFL+ replaces Yahoo as the streaming option for mobile rights in 2022. Whereas Yahoo streamed all national and local in-market games for free, NFL+ will charge $4.99/month or $29.99/year (regularly $39.99/year) for its base product and $9.99/month or $79.99/year for its Premium package. The base product includes all local in-market & national games on mobile devices (phones & tablets) only, all out-of-market preseason games (no restrictions), audio feeds of regular season games, and a live stream of NFLN. The Premium product also includes various game replays for all games including out-of-market ones on all devices and was previously known as NFL Gamepass.
NFL Network Redzone (Mobile only) – The NFLN RZ
channel can be purchased
as a standalone channel to be viewed on mobile devices only via the NFL Mobile
app for $34.99 for the season although it is not available yet. However, it is limited to mobile devices only
and cannot be played or streamed on any other type of device.
THINGS TO KNOW
There are a lot of nuances and caveats regarding some of these services and channels so please read the following items before you decide to purchase anything.
Flexible Scheduling
·
Flexible scheduling allows the NFL to change the
times for some games on Sundays including SNF
o Starting
with the 2006 season, the NFL instituted a policy that allows it to change the
announced start time of Sunday afternoon games to highlight more competitive
matchups in prime time for SNF. This
policy is in effect starting with Week 5 through Week 18 and basically works as
follows. If it chooses, the NFL will
announce that the currently scheduled SNF game will be moved to a Sunday
afternoon time slot and will be replaced by a game that was previously
scheduled for Sunday afternoon. There
may additional games that switch times because of this schedule change, i.e. a
third game may have its original time changed from 1:00 PM ET to 4:25 PM ET or
vice versa. It is usually done later in
the season when the game that is scheduled for SNF has very little or no
playoff implications and is subject to the following rules.
§ Between
Weeks 5-10, only two games total may be flexed to SNF
§ It
does not affect games scheduled for Thursdays, Saturdays or Mondays
§ Any
announcements regarding the flexing of games to Sunday night will be made at
least 12 days in advance
·
“Cross-flex” scheduling allows the NFL to air
FOX controlled regional games on CBS and CBS controlled regional games on FOX
o This
policy started in 2014 as a result of the flexible scheduling policy above
because due to multiple games being moved around, it could happen that CBS or
FOX might not have a game in a team’s primary market. Thus, there will sometimes be games on CBS
which feature two NFC teams and also games on FOX featuring two AFC teams.
· These two ideas are important because there may be games that you expect to watch on a certain channel at a certain time which end up being shown a different channel that you do not receive and/or at a different time.
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CHANNEL COST CHART
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NFL PLAYOFFS
·
There are 4 different rounds of postseason games
culminating with the Super Bowl.
o Wild
Card Round – Six total games with two aired on Saturday afternoon and evening,
three aired on Sunday afternoon and evening, and one aired Monday night. One game is aired by ESPN, one game is aired
by NBC, one AFC game is aired by CBS and the remaining three games are to be
aired on CBS/FOX/NBC.
o Divisional
Round - Four total games with two aired on Saturday afternoon and evening and
the other two on Sunday afternoon. The
networks for these games are TBD but they will be some combination of CBS, NBC,
and FOX.
o Conference
Championship Round – Each network airs the conference championship game of
their respective conference, the AFC on CBS, and the NFC on FOX. Both games are
aired on Sunday afternoon with the times alternating each year between 3:05 PM
and 6:40 PM ET. In 2022, the NFC
championship game is scheduled to air first.
o Super Bowl – The Super Bowl rotates between CBS, FOX, and NBC each year. FOX will televise the game in 2022 and previously has streamed it for free in the FOX Sports app although no plans have officially been announced yet.
SUMMARY OF
OPTIONS TO WATCH NFL GAMES/MY RANKINGS
I’ve read through this who guide, so now what? Well, I would basically summarize your options this way.
Are you able to receive the broadcast channels (CBS, FOX, NBC) via an antenna? If so, you’ll be able to watch all of your local and national games for no monthly cost, except for the 7 NFL Network Games, 1 ESPN+ game, and MNF. Also, if you’re a fan of a specific team and live within their DMA, then any NFLN or MNF games will also be aired on OTA channels, so if you can receive those channels, you should be all set.
Now, if you can’t get all of the broadcast networks via an antenna, your options are either to watch those games on a mobile device (via NFL+) or subscribe to a streaming service which hopefully carries all 4 of those networks. If there are specific networks you can’t receive such as CBS or NBC, then you can subscribe to their particular services (Paramount+, Peacock) in order to watch the games on those channels. Or you can subscribe to a streaming service which carries broadcast networks. You’ll also need to consider this if you want to watch MNF on ESPN and/or the 7 NFLN exclusive games.
Finally, if you’re a fan of an out-of-market team and/or a fantasy football fan and/or just an obsessed NFL fan in general, then NFLN RZ is a must have and you should probably subscribe to it. NFLN RZ is really the only legal option (short of NFL Sunday Ticket or NFLSUNDAYTICKET.TV) that will allow a fan who lives out of market to see at least some of his favorite team’s games live each week. If you don’t care about the live part, then of course, NFL+ Premium will allow you to watch replays for all out-of-market games.
Personally, I would rank the services as follows:
1) YouTube TV
2) Hulu Live
3) FuboTV
4) Sling*
5) Vidgo
6) NFL+
7) DIRECTV STREAM
*Sling would be #1 or 2 for people that are able to receive all 4 OTA networks via an antenna
SOURCES &
REFERENCES:
The information in the chart above and this entire post came from a variety of sources. Other websites that are very useful for TV listings are 506sports.com and FBSCHEDULES.com. 506sports.com is particularly useful because JP Kirby (the owner) creates channel maps each week which show which games each area of the country will be receiving on CBS & FOX for the Sunday Afternoon Regional broadcasts.
Sling TV
FuboTV
FuboTV – List of Broadcast Channels
DIRECTV STREAM
DIRECTV STREAM – Local Channel & RSN Lookup by Zip Code
MISC
