How to watch every football game of the 2025 NFL season

Football is back (sort of)! While the 2025 NFL preseason won’t kick off until August, the complete 18-week regular 2025 NFL season schedule will be released tonight, ushering in the unofficial start of the 2025-26 NFL season. 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 through the upcoming season, 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, Sept. 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!). Tight end Travis Kelce leaked the Chief’s opening game information on the latest episode of his podcast.

Here’s what else we know about the NFL’s Week 1 schedule for the 2025 NFL season:

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025

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

Friday, Sept. 5, 2025

Chiefs vs. Chargers in São Paulo: time TBD (YouTube)

Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025

Monday, Sept. 8, 2024

How to watch NFL games in 2025:

Many NFL preseason 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 (and preseason) 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 select games will stream on 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.

Not to overwhelm you, but there’s also ESPN’s newest streaming service to consider, and Fox One, Fox’s first streaming service. Both these platforms have yet to launch, and it’s currently unclear what exactly will be offered/changing from the current landscape. So for now, we recommend betting on a live TV streaming service for the upcoming NFL season, which will include both channels.

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 TV gives you access to ESPN, NFL Network, Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC and 100+ more live channels. Starting at $85/month, the live TV streaming service is definitely pricey (though certainly not the most expensive option on this list), but offers nearly every channel you’ll need to watch both the NFL preseason and regular season, and still leaves you with major savings compared to a traditional cable package.

Fubo subscribers also get unlimited cloud DVR storage, and plenty of non-sports related channels too. The platform offers a free trial period, so you can check it out ahead of the 2025 NFL season and decide if it’s right for you this year.

Right now, Fubo is also offering new subscribers $20 off their first month of the service, bringing your total for your first month (after the free trial ends) to $65.

Pros

Full package free trial available
Unlimited cloud DVR storage

$85/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 TV is once again the home of NFL Sunday Ticket! The Sunday Ticket package, while pricey on its own ($480/year), gets you ALL the Sunday out-of-market games (160+ games per season). You can also break the payment for this package down into $40/month for 12 months, and add NFL RedZone to that package, which brings the total to $43.50/month or $522 for the year year.

If you bundle Sunday Ticket with YouTube TV, which gets you all the primetime games and every out-of-market Sunday game, the cost for Sunday Ticket drops down to $378 for the year — or four, non-cancellable monthly payments of $94.50, plus the price of YouTube TV (which you’ll have to keep paying for as long as you want to access your NFL Sunday Ticket package), which is currently available for $59.99/month for your first two months. The cost then hikes up to $82.99/month, in addition to the Sunday Ticket price. That all breaks down to be $154.50/month for the first two months, and $177.50/month for the following two months. 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 and Netflix for those exclusive games (and potentially Peacock, too).

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

$57.99/mo for your first 3 months at YouTube

DirecTV Stream is currently offering its Choice tier (typically $108+/month with fees) for just $78 (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 the channels you can catch NFL games on, too. Whichever package you choose, you’ll get unlimited Cloud DVR storage.

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
Unlimited Cloud DVR

Cons

Cost
Regional Sports Network fee

$78 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

This year’s NFL season kicks off on Thursday, September 4, 2025 with a match hosted by 2025 Super Bowl winners the Philadelphia Eagles. Immediately following the 2025 NFL kickoff game, on Friday, Sept. 5, the Kansas City Chiefs will play the Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo. YouTube will be the exclusive (and free) streaming home for the NFL international game in Brazil.