Former three-time NFL All Pro Shawne Merriman breaks down his top five Sunday Night Football matchups for the 2024 season.
The release of the NFL schedule earlier this month laid out the roadmap for the 2024 season. While each team can start drawing up gameplans for their 2024 opponents, fans will need their own strategy and budget for watching games.
Streaming has complicated matters for viewers at home. While there is a platform for each matchup in the 272-game regular season, viewers – and their wallets – have to keep up with a rising number of subscriptions required to watch every game.
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How many streaming partners does the NFL have now? And what does it cost to watch every NFL game in 2024?
Let’s break it all down:
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Peacock
Peacock aired the NFL’s first streaming-exclusive playoff game last season, a wild card matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. It will make history again in 2024 when it broadcasts the NFL’s first ever opening-week Friday game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in São Paulo, Brazil at 8:15 p.m. ET on Sept. 6.
In addition to Peacock-exclusive games, NFL fans can also stream all of NBC’s games on Peacock. That includes every Sunday Night Football game, the NFL Kickoff Game on Sept. 5 between the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens, a Thanksgiving matchup between the Packers and Dolphins and a Week 16 Saturday game between the Chiefs and Houston Texans.
NFL
Peacock will also air two playoff games – one in the wild card round and one in the divisional round – though neither are Peacock-exclusive. Both playoff games will air on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo.
In all, Peacock will have 25 NFL games: 22 regular season games, two playoff games and one preseason game. The Packers-Eagles game in Brazil is the only Peacock-exclusive game in 2024.
Peacock cost
A Peacock Premium subscription currently costs $5.99 per month or $59.99 annually. A Peacock Premium Plus subscription, which has no ads with limited exclusions, is currently $11.99 per month or $119.99 annually.
Peacock is raising its subscription prices ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. A Peacock Premium subscription will be $7.99 per month and Peacock Premium Plus will increase to $13.99 per month.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video has by far the most stream-exclusive games on the NFL schedule.
Prime Video is entering its second season as the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football and started a new tradition with its Black Friday football broadcast.
In 2024, Prime Video will air one preseason game, 15 Thursday Night Football games, a Black Friday matchup between the Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders and its first ever playoff game during the wild card round.
Amazon Prime Video cost
A current Amazon Prime membership comes in at $14.99 per month or $139 annually. Student pricing is reduced to $7.49 per month and $69 annually.
For those who just want Prime Video and not a full Prime membership, the subscription costs $8.99 per month.
Netflix
Netflix is the new kid on the block when it comes to streaming NFL games.
The company will stream Christmas Day contests in each of the next three years. It will debut in 2024 with two holiday matchups, one between the Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers and the other between the Texans and Baltimore Ravens, on Wednesday, Dec. 25.
Netflix cost
Netflix’s standard plan with ads starts at $6.99 per month. Its standard plan without ads is listed at $15.49 per month and its premium 4K + HDR plan comes in at $22.99 per month.
ESPN+
Like Peacock, ESPN+ will carry 25 NFL games in 2024, including one exclusive to the platform.
ESPN+ will have all of the games that will air on ESPN and ABC. That list includes 20 Monday Night Football matchups, a Week 18 Saturday doubleheader, a Monday night wild card game and a divisional round game.
ESPN+ will have one exclusive broadcast as part of a Week 7 Monday Night Football doubleheader when the Los Angeles Chargers visit the Arizona Cardinals. Kickoff for that matchup is set for 9 p.m. ET on Oct. 21.
ESPN+ cost
Users can subscribe to ESPN+ for $10.99 per month or $109.99 annually. Disney also offers a bundle with ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu at $14.99 per month.
NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV
To round things out, NFL Sunday Ticket is the way for football fans to access every game on Sundays.
While fans can watch three or four games on CBS and FOX each Sunday depending on the week, Sunday Ticket allows fans to watch out-of-market games.
DirecTV was Sunday Ticket’s provider from the service’s inception in 1994 until 2022. YouTube TV took over as the exclusive provider in 2023.
NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV cost
Fans without a YouTube TV plan can pay four payments of $112.25 – $449 in all – to get NFL Sunday Ticket for the 2024 season. However, those with an “NFL Sunday Ticket only” plan will need cable or another provider to watch in-market games on Sunday afternoons.
Those with a YouTube TV plan can make four payments of $87.25 – $349 in all – to get Sunday Ticket. A base plan for YouTube TV costs $72.99 per month and includes NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN and ABC.
Total cost to stream every NFL game in 2024
Assuming a fan only keeps a subscription for the shortest amount of time necessary to watch NFL games, here is how much it would cost for a full season.
- Peacock: One month (September) at $7.99 per month = $7.99
- Amazon Prime Video: Five months (September through January) at $8.99 per month = $44.95
- Netflix: One month (December) at $6.99 per month = $6.99
- ESPN+: One month (October) at $10.99 per month = $10.99
- NFL Sunday Ticket (with YouTube TV plan): Six months (September through February) at $72.99 per month plus $349 Sunday Ticket cost = $786.94
- NFL Sunday Ticket (without YouTube TV plan): $449
- Total cost with YouTube TV plan: $857.86
- Total cost without YouTube TV plan: $519.92 (does not include cable/other service that would be needed to watch in-market games on Sundays)
