It’s that time of year again. Football season kicks off on September 9, and I watch my beloved New York Giants probably crash and burn yet again. According to ESPN, the odds of us winning the Super Bowl this year are 70-1. But, masochist that I am, I plan to watch all the games and hope for at least an 8-9 season. But it gets a little trickier as I recently cut the cord in an attempt to save a few dollars.
Now it’s a war of attrition, trying to squeeze as much gridiron time out of my streaming services without totally draining my wallet. But I’ve done some research and found some ways to watch every single NFL game this season. I’ll use the money I save to wipe my tears while waxing nostalgic about happier times with Manning and Coughlin, consoling myself with the thought that it could be worse. I could be a Jets fan.
Your home team is your cheapest option
If you’ve got a cable subscription, watching your local teams is your cheapest option, as they’re built into your local coverage. For me, that’s the unfettered access to the Giants and Jets via local TV affiliates. NBC and ESPN would take care of Sunday and Monday Night football, respectively.
But, as I previously mentioned, I’ve cut the cord. That means I’ve got to grab some gear. An OTA (Over-the-Air) digital antenna will have you cheering, booing and backseat QBing your local market games in no time. Best of all, outside of the initial hardware cost, there’s no subscription fee. It’s totally plug-and-play. Just pray you’re somewhere that gets great reception. A digital antenna can range between $15 and $150 and can have different features, including indoor and outdoor use.
NFL
If you want to go the streaming route, you have several options. The most inexpensive option is an NFL+ subscription at $6.99 per month. However, that only lets you watch on a phone or tablet. To enjoy the gridiron action on the big screen, it’ll be $14.99/month.
If your team is in the AFC, an $8.99 monthly Essential Plan subscription to Paramount+ will stream all regional Sunday afternoon games, while Peacock’s $12.99 Premium subscription covers Sunday Night Football. NFC fans will have to rely on FOX One’s $19.99/month package.
If you want total game access, it’s gonna cost you
Look, we listen, and we don’t judge. Sometimes you want to switch things up. Maybe you want to see what a winning season looks like, you’re keeping tabs on players from your fantasy team or maybe you want to delight in another team’s misery. For those instances, you’re going to need a more robust streaming package. And that unfortunately means more money. Or does it?
You’ve got a few options for access to the 285 regular and postseason games this year. But make no mistake, they’re costly. You can go with a base YouTube TV Sports Plan ($54.99/month), Hulu + Live TV ($89.99/month with ads), Fubo ($64.99/month, $54.99 first month) or Sling, which splits its NFL offerings across two separate plans. You’ll need Sling Blue and Orange for $45.99 each or $60.99 bundled. And none of those have an out-of-market option except YouTube TV with its NFL Sunday Ticket add-on, which is $240 per season for new users and $378 for returning customers. And that is for the birds — the very expensive birds. And I don’t know about you, but I have peacock tastes with a pigeon budget.
The keys to cost-saving victory
So, my fellow pigeons, we’re going to call an audible and Frankenstein a path to gridiron glory by using a lot of what we laid out in the previous section. Grab an OTA digital antenna for local games and a premium NFL Plus subscription. This includes NFL RedZone, which lets you watch a seven-hour broadcast for Sunday afternoon games that cuts to live coverage of games where the ball is on the 20-yard line with an imminent touchdown. And whenever a game ends, you can watch the full replay on your TV, so you’re not stuck watching on your smartphone or tablet.
For Thursday Night Football (TNF), you’ll need Amazon Prime Video, which is built into your Amazon Prime account, or you can get it standalone for $8.99/month. And if you really want to be thrifty, Amazon streams TNF on Twitch for free. And finally, there are the international and holiday games. This year’s international games will be broadcast across Netflix, CBS, Paramount+, the NFL Network/NFL+, Fox, NBC and Peacock. Netflix is where you can catch the Christmas games, and the Thanksgiving games this year will be spread across CBS, Fox and NBC. Prime Video is the place for the Black Friday game and the December matchups. Peacock will also broadcast those late-season games. The upcoming Super Bowl will be broadcast on ESPN and ABC.
So there you have it, sports fans. There’s really no cheap way to have access to every game live. But if you’re willing to get an antenna and sacrifice out-of-market games, you can get by with a couple of streaming subscriptions instead of an expensive live TV package. Just like in football, a good strategy, ingenuity and the right tools can win the day — and save you some serious coin.
