2025 NFL season: How to watch every football game without cable

Football is back! The 2025 NFL season kicks off with a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys, followed by a special Friday game in São Paulo, Brazil, between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers. Are you ready to watch some football? This season, NFL games will air across 10+ channels and streaming platforms.

If you’re worried about the challenge of following your favorite team throughout the year, from the NFL season opener to the 2026 Super Bowl, Yahoo Sports has you covered. Here’s your playbook for how to watch the 2025-26 NFL season.

How to watch the 2025 NFL season:

Dates: Sept. 4, 2025 – Feb. 8, 2026

TV channels: ESPN, NBC, CBS, Fox, ABC and NFL Network

Streaming: Prime Video, Peacock, ESPN+, Paramount+, NFL+, Netflix

2025 NFL season opening week schedule:

Week 1 of the NFL season will open with the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, September 4, 2025. The 2025 NFL season’s opening game will air nationally on NBC at 8:20 p.m. ET — it’ll also stream live on Peacock and NFL+. Spanish coverage of the game will air on Telemundo and Universo.

The following day, the Kansas City Chiefs will play the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil for an NFL International game that will stream exclusively on YouTube (for free!).

NFL Week 1 schedule:

All times Eastern.

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025

Eagles vs. Cowboys: 8:20 p.m. (NBC, Peacock)

Friday, Sept. 5, 2025

Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025

Las Vegas Raiders vs. New England Patriots: 1 p.m. (CBS)
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New York Jets: 1 p.m. (CBS)
Miami Dolphins vs. Indianapolis Colts: 1 p.m. (CBS)
Arizona Cardinals vs. New Orleans Saints: 1 p.m. (CBS)
New York Giants vs. Washington Commanders: 1 p.m. (FOX)
Carolina Panthers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: 1 p.m. (FOX)
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns: 1 p.m. (FOX)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons: 1 p.m. (FOX)
Tennessee Titans vs. Denver Broncos: 4:05 p.m. (FOX)
San Francisco 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks: 4:05 p.m. (FOX)
Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers: 4:25 p.m. (FOX)
Houston Texans vs. Los Angeles Rams: 4:25 p.m. (CBS)
Baltimore Ravens vs. Buffalo Bills: 8:20 p.m. (NBC)

Monday, Sept. 8, 2024

Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears: 8:15 p.m. (ESPN/ABC)

How to watch NFL games in 2025:

Many NFL games are broadcast on local channels, so if you’re looking to catch an in-market game, it may be as simple as turning on your TV (or setting up a digital TV antenna) or finding a live TV streaming service that carries the correct RSN (Regional Sports Network). If you want to watch out-of-market games, a $7 monthly subscription to NFL+ will let you watch every out-of-market-game local and primetime game in the season on your phone — but only a select few regular season games on your TV. You could also spring for the uber-expensive NFL Sunday Ticket package to get every out-of-market Sunday game of the season.

When it comes to nationally broadcast games, NFL games typically air across ESPN, NBC, CBS, Fox, ABC and NFL Network. Thursday Night Football games stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, select football games will stream exclusively on Peacock, games on CBS will stream live on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and Monday Night Football games will air on ESPN or ABC and stream on the newly revamped ESPN+ this season. That’s six channels and four streaming platforms to keep up with this season — and that’s not counting your local RSN’s for in-market games and an NFL+ or NFL Sunday Ticket subscription for out-of-market games. Plus, Netflix is once again hosting at least two Christmas Day matches, so add that subscription into the mix. And we can’t forget about Fox One, Fox’s first streaming service, a place where you can also stream games airing on FOX (if you don’t already have access to it).

Confused? You’re not alone. Here’s a breakdown of the platforms we recommend checking out ahead of the 2025 NFL season, so that come game time, tuning into your favorite team’s games will be as easy as simply turning on the TV.

Fubo’s new skinny sports bundle, Fubo Sports, includes local broadcast stations owned-and-operated by ABC, CBS and FOX, plus additional affiliates in select markets, as well as ACC Network, Big 10 Network, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, Fox News, FS1, FS2, Fubo Sports Network, ION, NFL Network, SEC Network and Tennis Channel. It also includes free access to ESPN’s new ESPN+ unlimited plan. Fubo subscribers also get unlimited cloud DVR storage.

The new Fubo Sports tier will be available starting Sept. 2. You can get $10 off your first month, which brings the cost to $45.99. After your first month it goes up to $55.99/month.

This new Fubo package has you covered for most nationally broadcast or in-market NFL games, and still leaves you with major savings compared to a traditional cable package.

The platform offers a free trial period, so you can check it out for a few days of the 2025 NFL season and decide if it’s right for you this year.

Pros

Free trial available
Unlimited cloud DVR storage
Free ESPN unlimited

$45.99 for your first month at Fubo

YouTube TV gets you nearly every channel you’ll need for the 2025 NFL season, including Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN and NFL Network.

Plus, YouTube is once again the home of NFL Sunday Ticket! The Sunday Ticket package, while pricey on its own (currently $276/season for new subscribers), gets you ALL the Sunday out-of-market games (160+ games per season). You can also break the payment for this package down into $34.50/month for 8 months, or add NFL RedZone to that package, which brings the total to $39.75/month or $318 for the season.

If you choose to bundle Sunday Ticket with YouTube TV, which gets you all the primetime games and every out-of-market Sunday game, the monthly cost for new users will start at $84.49 for the first three months, then shoot up to $117.50/month. You can try YouTube TV (but not Sunday Ticket!) free for 10 days.

One thing to note, YouTube TV livestreams have a tendency to run on a slight delay, which isn’t great if you’re trying to keep up with the game live down to the exact second. This is a great package for a football superfan, but you’ll still need access to Prime Video, Peacock, ESPN+ and Netflix for those streaming exclusive games.

Pros

Offers NFL Sunday Ticket bundle
Offers almost every channel you need for NFL games

Cons

High cost
Locked into YouTube TV Base Plan with the Sunday Ticket bundle
Known for broadcast delays

$84.49/mo for your first 3 months at YouTube

DirecTV Stream is currently offering its Choice tier (typically $108+/month with fees) for just $72.98 (after fees) for your first month.

DirecTV Stream’s Choice tier gets you access to all the usual football suspects: NFL Network, ESPN, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, plus ACC Network, Big Ten Network, SEC Network and plenty more local Regional Sports Networks. (If you want to avoid paying the RSN fees, the Entertainment Tier has plenty of channels you can catch NFL games on, too.)

Whichever package you choose, you’ll get unlimited Cloud DVR storage and access to ESPN+’s new streaming tier, ESPN unlimited.

The best part is, currently, you can try all this out free for 5 days. So if you’re interested in trying out a live TV streaming service for football season, but aren’t ready to commit, we recommend starting with DirecTV Stream.

Pros

Full package free trial available
Many local RSNs included
Free ESPN unlimited
Unlimited Cloud DVR

Cons

Cost
Regional Sports Network fee

$73 for your first month at DirecTV

Amazon Prime Video is the exclusive home for the NFL’s Thursday Night Football games. On top of Amazon Prime Video, an Amazon Prime subscription includes free shipping, exclusive deals, access to the Prime Day 2025 sale event, Amazon Music, a year of free GrubHub+ and more. A standard Amazon Prime subscription is $15 monthly or $139 annually, but discounts are available for students and those on qualified government assistance. You can try Amazon Prime free for 30 days.

Pros

You probably already have access to Prime Video

Cons

Only Thursday Night Football games

$15 at Amazon

A basic $6.99 per month (or $40 annually) NFL+ subscription will get you live local and primetime regular and preseason NFL games exclusively on your phone or tablet, plus live audio for every game of the season across supported devices and access to NFL Network. NFL+ Premium, while a little pricier at $14.99 per month (or $80 annually) also includes access to NFL RedZone, plus full and condensed replays of every game across supported devices. NFL+ also offers a 7-day free trial.

Cons

Can only watch MOST live games on your phone

$6.99/month at NFL

ESPN’s revamped streaming platform offers thousands of exclusive live events, original studio shows and acclaimed series that air across ESPN’s suite of 7 linear channels, as well as exclusive content on ESPN+, ABC on ESPN, SEC+, ACCNX and some content from NFL Network and NFL RedZone. The new tier costs $29.99/month or $299.99/year.

Also of note, for its first year in existence, ESPN unlimited includes “bundle” access to Disney+ and Hulu at no extra cost!

And starting September 3, for an extra $10/month, you can bundle ESPN unlimited with NFL+ Premium, which includes full access to NFL Network and NFL Redzone, plus out-of-market NFL games on mobile.

Pros