• As the game of football has evolved, so too has the way fans watch and experience it.
• From Thursday Night Football to Netflix’s Christmas broadcast, streaming is changing how fans view the NFL.
• The Packers and Eagles will meet in São Paulo, Brazil, home of the NFL’s second-largest fanbase outside the U.S. 

The new NFL season kicks off today!

It’s more than just another sports event—it’s a cultural moment. Football remains America’s favorite sport by a wide margin, with 41% of U.S. adults recently naming it their top choice, far outpacing baseball and basketball.

The season opens with a highly anticipated showdown between last year’s Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Baltimore Ravens. It begins at 8:20 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast nationally on NBC.

Fans can also stream it live on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s subscriber-based streaming platform. It has already become a go-to for Sunday Night Football and other marquee NFL matchups.

But the excitement doesn’t stop there. The following day features a special Friday night event, with the Green Bay Packers taking on the Philadelphia Eagles in São Paulo, Brazil.

This international clash of American athletes starts at 8:15 p.m. EDT, will be available exclusively on Peacock.

The location is no coincidence—Brazil boasts the second-largest group of NFL fans outside the United States (highlighted below), making it an ideal host for this marquee game.

It’s not an exaggeration to say football is the “end all, be all” of American sports. In 2023 alone, fans consumed a staggering 975 billion minutes of NFL action in 284 televised games—an amount that far surpasses the viewership of other major sports. For comparison, baseball, basketball and hockey drew 329 billion, 285 billion and 181 billion minutes, respectively, last year.

And it’s not just the on-field action that captivates fans. The start of the NFL season also signals the beginning of fantasy football, which draws more than 30 million  participants across the country. That’s more than double the number of people who play fantasy baseball, reinforcing the NFL’s dominance in American sports culture.

Football’s popularity also extends into the sports betting world. With each team playing 17 games, the NFL’s 272-game regular season generates significant wagering interest. In terms of average bets per game, the NFL leads all major sports leagues. 

The evolution of NFL viewing

As the NFL season gets underway, it’s not just the players who have adapted to new challenges—how we watch the games has evolved dramatically . What started as a straightforward TV experience has been transformed into a diverse mix of traditional broadcasts and digital streaming options, giving fans more ways to tune in than ever before.

Back in the day, watching an NFL game was as simple as tuning into NBC, CBS or ABC, depending up on your region and which teams were playing. A true milestone in NFL history came in 1970 with the launch of Monday Night Football on ABC, which quickly became a prime-time cultural phenomenon. Sunday Night Football made its debut on ESPN in 1987, but it wasn’t until 2006, when it moved to NBC, that it became the premier prime-time event we know today.

As cable and satellite TV gained popularity, the NFL expanded its reach. DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket, introduced in 1994, was a game-changer, enabling fans to watch out-of-market games and follow any team, no matter where they lived. The advent of the NFL Network in 2003 brought even more games and in-depth coverage to fans. And in 2006, ESPN took over Monday Night Football, further solidifying its role as a key player in NFL broadcasting.

Then came the streaming revolution. As viewers began cutting the cord, traditional networks like NBC, CBS and ESPN adapted by offering their games through their own streaming platforms—Peacock, Paramount Plus and ESPN Plus. Amazon Prime Video made headlines in 2017 when it secured exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football, marking the NFL’s first major partnership with a standalone streaming service. More recently, YouTube TV stepped in to offer NFL Sunday Ticket, making it accessible to even more fans who prefer streaming over traditional TV.

Today, whether you’re sticking with cable or embracing streaming services like Amazon Prime or YouTube TV, the NFL has ensured that you can catch all the action, no matter the platform.

How to Watch the NFL in 2024

The 2024 NFL season offers fans more ways to watch than ever before, with games spread across different days and platforms throughout the week. Here’s how the NFL week typically unfolds.

The action starts with Thursday Night Football, marking the official beginning of the NFL week. This year, there’s a twist—some of these games will be played on Friday, including a special Black Friday matchup. The season opener will air on NBC, but most Thursday night games are exclusive to Amazon Prime. However, Thanksgiving Day games (also on a Thursday) will stick to tradition and be broadcast on CBS, FOX and NBC.

Sunday is the heart of the NFL week, packed with games throughout the day. In the early afternoon, most AFC games are broadcast on CBS, while FOX carries the NFC matchups. The excitement builds toward the evening with Sunday Night Football on NBC, the week’s prime-time showdown.

The NFL week wraps up with Monday Night Football, a fan favorite that brings the week to a close. Games are broadcast on ESPN and ABC, and this season, several weeks—specifically Weeks three, four seven and 15—will feature doubleheaders, with games split between ESPN, ABC and ESPN Plus. Additionally, Week 18 will feature a special Saturday doubleheader on Jan. 4, focused on TBD matchups with playoff implications.

This year also brings something entirely new: Christmas Day football on Netflix. For the first time, two games will be streamed exclusively on the platform, marking Netflix’s debut in live NFL coverage. Netflix reportedly paid the NFL $150 million for the rights, meaning the cost of streaming a single NFL game exclusively on Netflix is roughly $75 million. According to a Netflix vice president of finance, that budget is comparable to “the size of one of our medium-sized original films,” illustrating the powerful economics surrounding the NFL.

Additional viewing options

Besides the major networks and platforms, fans have several other ways to access NFL action, including services like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV Stream, Sling TV and Fubo. These streaming services offer access to the primary NFL channels—ESPN, ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS—ensuring you can catch most games live.

Beyond these, you can also stream NFL games on Peacock and Paramount Plus, which are tied to NBC and CBS, respectively. The NFL’s own streaming service, NFL Plus, offers live streams of every NFL game, but viewing is limited to mobile devices like phones and tablets, not televisions.

For fans who want to follow all the highlights and critical moments from every game, NFL RedZone remains a popular choice. Originally a cable channel, NFL RedZone can now be added as an option to streaming services like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV Stream, Sling TV and Fubo.

Another proposed platform is Venu Sports, a streaming service conceived by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. Once launched, it’s expected to offer NFL games that air on ESPN, ABC and FOX, further expanding the viewing options for fans.

Given the wide range of options, fans should evaluate their specific preferences to determine which platforms and services best suit their viewing needs.

Andrew Prochnow has more than 15 years of experience trading the global financial markets, including 10 years as a professional options trader. Andrew is a frequent contributor of Luckbox Magazine.

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