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How to Watch NFL and College Football in 2026 Without Cable

NFL & College October 26, 2026 By Andrew

I follow a couple of NFL teams and a couple of college teams, and the most annoying question of any football weekend isn't who wins. It's where the game is. Thursdays are on Prime Video, most of Christmas Day is on Netflix, and some Sunday mornings start in London on NFL Network.

This is the cheat sheet I wish I'd had, organized by package. Prices change constantly, so I've only included the few I could confirm on official pages in October 2026. Check with the provider before you pay.

Start with an antenna. Seriously.

The cheapest football service is still a TV antenna. CBS, FOX, NBC and ABC carry a huge share of both NFL and college games, free over the air if you can pick up the signal. Before you buy one, put your address into the FCC's DTV Reception Map to see which stations you should receive. The FCC's predictions assume an outdoor antenna 30 feet up, so an indoor antenna may do worse.

There's an NFL-specific reason the antenna matters, too. The league says it is the only sports league that shows all regular-season and postseason games on free, over-the-air TV in local markets. In practice, when your team plays on a streaming service, the game usually still airs on a local station in the two teams' home markets. The Bills' Week 2 Thursday game against Detroit, for example, streamed on Prime Video and also aired on Buffalo's ABC affiliate, WKBW, in the Buffalo market only. If you live in your team's market, check local listings before you assume you need a new subscription.

NFL Sunday afternoons: CBS, FOX and Sunday Ticket

Most NFL games are still Sunday at 1:00 p.m. or the 4:05/4:25 p.m. ET window, split between CBS and FOX. Which game you get depends on your local market.

CBS → Paramount+. According to Paramount+'s help center, every Paramount+ plan, Essential included, can stream NFL on CBS games that air on your local CBS station. Essential plans lose the live CBS feed after the game ends. Premium keeps it.
FOX → FOX One. FOX's streaming service includes local FOX stations along with FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network, according to FOX's launch announcement.
NFL Sunday Ticket → YouTube. If you follow a team from outside its home market, Sunday Ticket gives you out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on CBS and FOX. You can get it with a YouTube TV plan or on its own through YouTube Primetime Channels. It does not include Thursday, Sunday or Monday night games. Pricing depends on whether you're a new or returning subscriber and on current promotions, so check YouTube's Sunday Ticket page rather than trusting last year's number.

NFL primetime: NBC, ESPN and Prime Video

Sunday Night Football: NBC and Peacock. NBC has one game every Sunday night in Weeks 1–17, plus the Thanksgiving night game. In 2026 that's Kansas City at Buffalo.
Monday Night Football: ESPN, and often ABC. ESPN has one game each Monday in Weeks 1–17. Many, but not all, are also on ABC. There's no Monday game in Week 18.
Thursday Night Football: Prime Video. Prime Video has 15 Thursday games between Weeks 2 and 17, not counting Thanksgiving night. They come with a Prime membership. The Bills' official viewing guide says the games are also on Twitch, on mobile through NFL+, and on local stations in the two teams' markets. Prime Video also has the Black Friday game (Steelers vs. Broncos, Nov. 27, 3:00 p.m. ET) and the Christmas Eve Thursday game (Texans at Eagles).

Late-season primetime slots can be flexed, so treat a December listing as tentative.

The odd days: Netflix, NFL Network and Peacock

Netflix streams the season's special-date games: the Week 1 game in Melbourne, the first Thanksgiving Eve game (Packers at Rams, Wednesday, Nov. 25), two Christmas Day games (Packers at Bears at 1:00 p.m. ET, then Bills at Broncos at 4:30 p.m. ET), and one Saturday game in Week 18 (Jan. 9, 1:00 p.m. ET). The third Christmas game, Rams at Seahawks at 8:15 p.m. ET, is on FOX.
NFL Network has seven exclusive games: five international games at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday mornings, plus two Week 16 Saturday games. You can get NFL Network through most live TV streamers, through NFL+, and through ESPN's Unlimited plan, whose lineup now includes NFL Network.
Peacock has one exclusive game: a Week 17 Saturday night game on Jan. 2, 2027, at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Week 18 Saturday has three games: 1:00 p.m. ET on Netflix, and 4:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC. The matchups aren't picked until Week 17 is over.

NFL+ is a phone-and-tablet service

Base NFL+ includes live local and primetime games on your phone or tablet, along with NFL Network, live game audio and out-of-market preseason games. NFL+ Premium adds NFL RedZone, full and condensed replays and All-22 film. As of the NFL's support page (updated April 2026), NFL+ is $6.99/month or $49.99/year, and Premium is $14.99/month or $99.99/season, plus tax. It isn't a way to watch your local Sunday game on the living-room TV.

College football: follow the conference

College is messier because every conference has its own TV partners, and the home team's deal usually decides where a game airs. Here's the 2026 picture, based on conference announcements and CableTV.com's August 2026 channel table. (Our team schedule pages show each game's network once it's announced.)

SEC: ESPN and ABC, including ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, SEC Network+ and ESPN+.
ACC: ABC, ESPN networks, ACC Network, ACC Network Extra and The CW.
Big Ten: FOX, CBS, NBC, Big Ten Network, FS1 and Peacock. Peacock says it will stream more than 25 Big Ten and Notre Dame games this season, including every Big Ten Saturday Night game on NBC, plus some exclusives.
Big 12: ESPN networks, FOX/FS1, and TNT Sports. TNT games also stream on HBO Max.
Pac-12 (the rebuilt league): CBS, CBS Sports Network, USA Network and The CW. The conference says its CBS games stream on Paramount+, and its CW games stream in the ESPN app with ESPN Unlimited.
Notre Dame: home games on NBC and Peacock.
Group of Five and others: mostly ESPN networks, ESPN+ and CBS Sports Network, plus FOX and The CW for some Mountain West games.

One catch: road games follow the home team's TV deal, so a Pac-12 team playing at a Big Ten school can end up on BTN.

For streaming, the two big apps here are ESPN Unlimited, which ESPN says includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN on ABC, SEC Network, ACC Network, SEC Network+, ACC Network Extra, ESPN+, NFL Network and CW Sports, and FOX One for FOX, FS1 and BTN. ESPN lists Unlimited at $31.99/month or $319.99/year. If your team is in the Big Ten, you'll probably also want Peacock and Paramount+ for the NBC and CBS weeks.

The postseason moves around too. CableTV.com lists College Football Playoff games on ABC, ESPN, TNT, truTV and HBO Max, with the national championship on ABC.

Live TV streamers: the "one bill" option

If you'd rather not stack apps, a live TV streamer such as YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, Sling or DIRECTV is the closest thing to cable. Lineups vary by service, plan and ZIP code, so confirm your local CBS, FOX, NBC and ABC, the ESPN networks, FS1, NFL Network, CBS Sports Network and your teams' conference networks before you sign up. As one data point, YouTube TV's help page lists its base plan at $82.99/month. Sunday Ticket costs extra.

How I'd put it together

List your teams and their conferences. That tells you most of what you need.
Antenna first for the broadcast networks.
Add the app or apps that cover the gaps: Prime Video for Thursdays, Netflix for the holidays, ESPN Unlimited or a live TV streamer for ESPN and the conference networks, Peacock for the Big Ten or Notre Dame.
Check week to week. College TV assignments often come out just 12 or even 6 days ahead (here's why), and NFL games can be flexed.

That last step is why I built One Page Season. Build your season and it puts each game's TV channel next to its kickoff time, in your timezone, for all the teams you follow, and marks anything that hasn't been announced yet as TBD instead of guessing. It won't sign you up for anything. It just tells you which network to look for.

Sources

Times, TV assignments and prices can change; check the linked sources and providers before you plan or pay. Commentary is our own. Send a correction if you spot an error.