How to Watch NFL Games Without Cable

The NFL is the easiest major league to watch without cable, because a lot of it is already free over the air - you just have to know which games fall into which bucket. Here's how the season actually breaks down.

Sunday afternoon: local games are free over the air

Whichever game your local CBS or FOX affiliate carries in your market - almost always your home team, or whoever's the biggest draw regionally - is broadcast free over the air. A $20-40 digital antenna picks up your local affiliates in HD, no subscription of any kind required. This covers the single biggest chunk of the season: most Sunday 1pm and 4pm windows, for most fans, most weeks.

Out-of-market Sunday games: NFL Sunday Ticket

If you want every Sunday afternoon game, not just the one or two your market gets, that's NFL Sunday Ticket, sold through YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels. It's the one real must-have for an out-of-market fan - an antenna or basic streaming bundle only ever gets you your own market's games.

The standalone streaming nights

• Thursday Night Football - Amazon Prime Video, exclusively. No cable or antenna alternative for most Thursday games.
• Sunday Night Football - NBC, which means it's also free over the air on your local NBC affiliate, and streams on Peacock.
• Monday Night Football - ESPN, simulcast on ABC in most weeks, so it's also free over the air on your local ABC affiliate.

If you want a full live-TV replacement

A live-TV streaming bundle - YouTube TV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, or DirecTV Stream - covers your local affiliates (so Sunday afternoon, SNF, and MNF simulcasts all work) plus the ESPN family for MNF and studio coverage, in one subscription. See our streaming service comparison for how these actually differ for sports.

Playoffs and the Super Bowl

Playoff games rotate across CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC/ESPN, and Amazon depending on the round and matchup, and the Super Bowl itself rotates between CBS, FOX, and NBC on a multi-year cycle. Whichever network has it, it's free over the air on that network's local affiliate - the postseason is not put behind a streaming-only paywall the way one weeknight of the regular season is.

The short version

• Just want your own team? An antenna handles most of the season.
• Want every out-of-market Sunday game? Sunday Ticket.
• Want Thursday nights too? Add Prime Video.
• Want one subscription that replaces cable entirely? A live-TV streaming bundle.