NFL Streaming Guide 2022: How to Watch Every Football Game of the Season Without Cable
It’s Week 3 of the 2022 NFL preseason, and you know what that means: The 2022 regular season is right around the corner. Kicking off on September 8 with a game pitting Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills against the defending Super Bowl champs, the Los Angeles Rams, the 2022 NFL regular season will run for 18 weeks, with 272 games scheduled.
For the complete 2022 NFL season schedule, check out this guide put together by CBS Sports.
Keep reading to check out ET’s rundown of where you can watch each and every NFL game this year, from streaming services you probably already subscribe to like Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+ to live TV packages including DirecTV Stream and Fubo TV.
ET and Paramount+ are both subsidiaries of Paramount.
Where to watch the 2022 NFL season online
There are a number of streaming services that offer NFL games this season, including Amazon Prime Video, NFL+, Paramount+, FuboTV and more. Here’s what you need to know about watching NFL games in 2022.
If you want to watch NFL games exclusively on your mobile device or tablet, NFL+ has you covered. Starting at $5 per month or $30 annually, an NFL+ subscription gives you mobile or tablet access to live local and primetime regular season and postseason games, live game audio for every game and more. You’ll also get live out-of-market preseason games across a broader range of devices.
This season, after a few years of being available simultaneously on up to three platforms, Thursday Night Football will stream its live games exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Play-by-play legend Al Michaels, late of Sunday Night Football, and Kirk Herbstreit, best known as an analyst for ESPN’s College GameDay, will have the calls. The TNF schedule kicks off September 15, 2022, with the Los Angeles Chargers taking on Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs.
Not a Prime member? Amazon offers new subscribers a 30-day free trial, so you can watch live NFL action, along with all the other TV shows and moves offered by Prime Video.
Sunday Night Football will air weekly on NBC, and simultaneously stream live on Peacock. (You can also stream NBC via a live-TV streaming app, like DirecTV Stream.)
The SNF schedule kicks off with the Bills-Rams season-opener on September 8, 2022, which is, technically, a Thursday (and not a Sunday) night.
An important streaming heads-up: While Peacock offers plenty of great ad-supported shows and movies for free, if you want access to Peacock’s premium content, including Sunday Night Football, you need a subscription. There are two Peacock subscription options. For $5 per month, you can get ad-supported access to premium content, or go ad-free for $10 per month.
A Paramount+ subscription includes live access to NFL on CBS, CBS’ slate of live, AFC Sunday games. The streamer also offers NFL fans the weekly studio show, Inside the NFL.
Paramount+ has two subscriber tiers available — the $5 per month “Essential Plan,” a budget-minded tier with ads, and the $10 per month “Premium Plan,” which costs more but is ad-free. Paramount+ also offers a one-week free-trial period, so if you were thinking of trying the platform, you can catch a Sunday of football on CBS risk-free.
DirecTV Stream isn’t cheap, but it streams all the networks you’ll need for the 2022 NFL season. DirecTV Stream’s least-expensive tier, called “Entertainment,” offers CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN for $70 a month. But get this: Subscribers to the “Choice” tier and above get CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN, plus your regional sports networks and no-extra-cost access to 2022 NFL Sunday Ticket Max, a plan that streams every live out-of-market Sunday game (and usually runs $395).
Right now, DirectTV Stream is offering $20 off your first two months of any package.
FuboTV is a sports-centric streaming service that offers access to almost every NFL game of the season. Packages include CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, NFL Network, NFL RedZone and more. Fox, so you know, offers Sunday NFC games via NFL on Fox; while ESPN is the home of Monday Night Football. ABC airs some MNF games, too.
In addition to NFL football, FuboTV offers MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and international soccer games.
Sling TV is a live-TV streamer. For the NFL season, Sling’s “Orange & Blue” tier will get you almost all of the networks you need to watch every game — and at a relative bargain of $50 a month. Note: The “Orange & Blue” tier will not get you CBS games, or Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football.
Still interested? Sling offers new users half off their first month of any package, including the “Orange & Blue” tier.
A $70 monthly subscription to Hulu+ Live TV offers access to all the platforms airing and streaming 2022 NFL games — except Amazon Prime, which must be purchased separately.
YouTube TV offers streaming coverage and pricing similar to Hulu+ Live TV’s, with the added bonus of a cable TV-esque channel grid. A basic subscription costs $65 a month. It’s currently being offered (to new users only) for $55 a month for the first three months.
During the 2022 NFL season, ESPN+ will exclusively broadcast one single game: Denver Broncos vs. Jacksonville Jaguars on October 30. The game will take place at Wembley Stadium in London, England at 9:30 a.m. ET. This means, if you truly want to the ability to stream every single game of the season, you’ll need access to ESPN+ for the month of October. The $7 per month streaming service does not currently offer a free trial.
Another way you can gain access to ESPN+ is through the Disney+ bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu’s most basic ad-supported plan and ESPN+ for $14 a month.
Don’t want to pay a monthly fee to catch NFL games on NBC? An inexpensive HD antenna will let you watch football and everything else broadcast on the major over-the-air networks.
Best streaming devices for watching the 2022 NFL season
Roku devices, Amazon Fire Sticks and more ways to stream the 2022 NFL season, plus tons of great shows and movies.
Among the streaming hardware giants, the Roku Express 4K+ boasts the most options and apps, including NFL-friendly streaming services such as Hulu, YouTubeTV and FuboTV. It’s Apple AirPlay compatible as well, enabling you to connect your iPhone or iPad to the TV. (You can learn more about Roku here.)
Apple devotees, or anyone with an Apple One subscription bundle, should consider watching NFL live streams on an Apple TV 4K. The device is equipped with Dolby Vision, a new-and-improved Siri-enabled remote and SharePlay, which enables you to enjoy the game with a group of pals. After the games wrap, you can take advantage of Apple Arcade gaming or stream a movie from your favorite streaming service.
Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is a streaming device that will appeal to anyone with an Alexa-enabled home. Say goodbye to pouring through channel menus. You can switch back and forth between games with the device’s voice remote (“Alexa, turn on the AFC Championship…”). It offers 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Vision, HDR, and HDR10+ in addition to Dolby Atmos audio, plus access to thousands of channels, some of which are free.