How much would it cost to watch every NFL game in 2025?
Being an NFL fan ain't cheap.
The average ticket to a game will run you $279 — the most expensive being the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles at $475, on average. (Go Birds.) (Editor's note: Go Bills!) But even if you prefer to watch the games at home, it's not exactly a more affordable option.
So, how much would it cost you to watch every single NFL game on TV in the 2025-2026 season? Last year, I estimated that it would cost $891.36 to watch every game, and the situation hasn't improved much in 2025. Let's break it down.
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Why NFL games are broadcast everywhere
Over the past few years, the NFL has sold its television and streaming rights in a piecemeal fashion — a game here, a package there, a day of the week here — in a way that's made it impossible to watch every game on TV via one, clean purchase. If you're a diehard football fan, you better be prepared to do some homework, and your wallet better be open.
That's a shame, because professional football is just about the only thing this country still agrees on. We will and have paid for it. I'd argue that NFL football is the most popular part of our shared U.S. culture, full stop. And it's not particularly close. Even Taylor Swift has her haters, famously so, in fact. Of the top 10 most-watched televised events last year, all ten were NFL games. Of the top 50, 32 were NFL games. It's guaranteed ratings, which means streamers and networks have fallen over themselves to get a piece.
To wit, here is every entity that owns exclusive rights to broadcast at least one NFL game this season:
CBS
FOX
NBC
ABC
ESPN
ESPN+
Amazon
Netflix
Peacock
NFL Network
YouTube
Frankly, it'd be easier to break down which broadcasters don't have a piece of the NFL at this point.
Which games does each channel and streaming service broadcast?
CBS
CBS has been the home of the AFC forever, as any NFL fan knows offhand. That means you get a local AFC team, a national game, or some combination of both, during the 1 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. ET windows.
FOX
In short: FOX is to the NFC what CBS is to the AFC. You get local and national games during the same windows.
NBC
Sunday Night Football, perhaps the marquee game each week, is owned by NBC. The network also televised the season opener (a Birds victory; go Birds) and will have a game on Thanksgiving.
ABC/ESPN
Disney is the parent company of both ABC and ESPN, which broadcast Monday Night Football, another marquee standalone product. Some games also air on ABC and, certain weeks, there are double headers with one game airing on each channel.
ESPN+
That's right, just ESPN wasn't enough; you might also need the company's premium streaming service to watch every NFL game. I write might because there is some confusion; Sports Media Watch reported in August that a planned Week 7 ESPN+ exclusive matchup had been moved to ESPN proper. The NFL's website lists ESPN as the broadcaster, too, but an ABC blog post updated this week lists the Week 7 matchup as an ESPN+ exclusive. Mashable has reached out to ESPN to clarify where the game will air but, for now, let's assume you'll still have to pay for ESPN+ to watch the Houston Texans play the Seattle Seahawks in Week 7.
Amazon Prime
Prime owns the rights to Thursday Night Football as well as a Wild Card round playoff game.
Netflix
Netflix will, once again, air two NFL games on Christmas.
Peacock
Yes, that's right, there is a Peacock exclusive matchup on top of NBC already airing games. The streamer will air a to-be-determined matchup in Week 17, on the Saturday after Christmas.
NFL Network
The NFL Network got six international games this season. Later in the season, some yet-to-be-determined games get moved to NFL Network, as well.
YouTube
YouTube, for the first time, had exclusive rights to the Week 1 Friday night game. It did not require a subscription, however, meaning it was free.
Breaking down the cost of watching every NFL game
TL;DR: It costs $810.86. There are 285 total NFL games in a season, meaning you'd pay about $2.85 per game in 2025.
But, of course, it is much more complicated than a nice, simple number. There are lots of assumptions I used to get to that figure. First, I assumed the consumer was starting from scratch. Consider this customer as someone who just moved — leaving behind an old school cable package — and made getting every single NFL game their top priority.
Second, I assumed this hypothetical customer would purchase each service as it was needed to watch a game then, importantly, cancel it once it was no longer needed. I felt it was a fair compromise to assume folks would 1) remember to cancel but 2) not perfectly time their free trials.
Third, I assumed this fan was not mooching off of others' subscriptions. Frankly, the crackdowns on shared passwords have grown so severe that I'd be surprised if you circumvented them, anyway.
So, in this hypothetical instance, you'd almost certainly buy YouTube TV + NFL Sunday Ticket. A diehard NFL fan would need Sunday Ticket to access out-of-market Sunday games. These are the games on CBS and FOX across the country that aren't the four games airing in your local market — Sunday Ticket is the only way to get those games. From there, YouTube TV covers most of the other networks you'll need: CBS, FOX, ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network. For new customers, YouTube has a package where Sunday Ticket costs $276, while YouTubeTV costs $49.99 for two months, then $82.99 after that.
That leaves you needing Amazon Prime, Netflix, Peacock, and (maybe) ESPN+. Prime is the biggest expense because you'll need it from the start of the season through the first week of the playoffs. That's five months at $14.99 a pop, or $74.95 total. Netflix came in at just $7.99 — assuming you purchased the cheapest tier — for the Christmas games. Ditto for Peacock. The final expense is ESPN+ at $11.99 for its October game, though, again, it's unclear where that game will air. The total, then, came in at $810.86. Here's how that looks in a simple spreadsheet.
We did this exercise last year and, in total, it seems the cost actually got a smidge cheaper in 2025 (about 9 percent cheaper YoY). But, it's worth noting, most people would pay more than $810 to watch every NFL game. Most folks already have a number of subscriptions — streamer, cable, or otherwise — which means we aren't starting from that ideal blank slate. It's likely lots of folks have an expensive cable package, for instance, but still have to spring for NFL Sunday Ticket at $276 to get out-of-market games. Or take returning YouTube TV customers, who have to pay $480 for Sunday Ticket. It doesn't pay to be loyal because all these broadcasters — YouTube included — know that Americans love their football and will pay handsomely to get access.
Of course, not every NFL fan will want to watch every single game. Most Americans already have some combination of network broadcasters, cable channels, and streaming services. You've likely already got some of the games covered and can stand missing out on the rest.
Heck, you can see lots of games with just FOX, CBS, and NBC, the old-school networks. Throw in Amazon Prime and ESPN, and you've got access to tons of games. Oh, and Netflix, too, because are you really going to miss the Christmas games? And, well, at that point, you might as well get Peacock, too, right? What's $7.99? And, shoot, are you really going to miss that Colts vs. Rams game just because it's out of market? So maybe Sunday Ticket is a good deal...
Man, it really ain't cheap to be an NFL fan.
Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).
