All the cheapest ways to watch football during the 2025-26 season

For better or worse, the number of ways to watch NFL and college football games has exploded in 2025.

While you once need a bloated pay TV bundle just to stream your local teams, this year brings new standalone options from ESPN and Fox, skinnier channel bundles from pay TV providers, and shorter-term subscription plans from Sling. Slice and dice things the right way, and you’ll save a bunch of money compared to what you might have spent in previous years.

But with so many potential paths for football coverage, it’s hard to keep track of what’s even available, let alone what the best option is. Here is my best attempt to point you in the right direction.

First, know which channels you need

The scenarios below are focused on channels rather than specific teams. If you’re not sure which channels you need to watch your favorite college or NFL teams, I suggest using ESPN’s Where to Watch tool. Enter your team into the search box, and you’ll see a schedule of upcoming games and their corresponding TV channels. Make a list of necessary channels and keep them in mind as we go through the options.

If you can use an antenna

• Figure out which channels you can get over the air, and then buy an antenna that suits your needs
• What’ll you get: ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC

If you’re blessed with good enough reception, an over-the-air antenna is still the best way to access a huge amount of football coverage for free, including all the NFL’s Sunday day games and the biggest college football matchups. You’ll miss some games that air on cable, but that’s where some of the following alternatives come into play.

If you only need ESPN

• Subscribe to ESPN for $30 per month (or $36 per month with the addition of Disney+ and Hulu)
• What you get: ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX

ESPN isn’t a great deal on a purely standalone basis, but it could pair well with an antenna and might cater to college football fans whose teams air exclusively on ABC and ESPN channels.

If you only need Fox’s sports channels

• Subscribe to Fox One for $20 per month
• What you get: Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, Fox News, and Fox Business

Much like ESPN’s service, Fox One will have narrow appeal as a standalone option, but it could work for folks whose NFL team airs primarily on Fox. It might also appeal to antenna users who otherwise have no reasonably-priced way to watch FS1, FS2, and the Big Ten Network.

If you want ESPN and Fox, but not much else

• Subscribe to the ESPN and Fox One bundle from October 2 onward
• What you get: All of ESPN’s channels, and all of Fox’s channels

These two services will cover a good-sized chunk of college and NFL games, especially for teams whose day games don’t air primarily on CBS.

For the cheapest path to local games, ESPN, and Fox’s cable channels

• Subscribe to Paramount+ ($8 per month), Peacock ($11 per month), ESPN ($30 per month), and Fox One ($20 per month). Bundle the latter two for $40 per month after October 2
• What you’ll get: All of ESPN’s channels, ABC’s sports coverage, all of Fox’s channels, sports and entertainment from NBC and CBS

For $69 per month (dropping to $59 per month once the ESPN-Fox One bundle becomes available), you get a wide swath of broadcast and cable football coverage, including all Sunday NFL games and Monday Night Football.

If you don’t care about ESPN, but want football on local channels

• Subscribe to DirecTV MyNews for $40 per month
• What you get: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and a bunch of cable news channels

Don’t be misled by the name. DirecTV’s MyNews package is sneakily the cheapest way to stream local channels, including football coverage on the four major broadcast networks.

Just note that DirecTV MyNews doesn’t carry all four major networks in every market. To check availability, click the “See 10+ channels” link.

If your NFL team airs on Fox and you live in a major city

• Look into Sling Select, which ranges from $20 to $30 per month depending on local channel availability.
• What you get: A combination of ABC, NBC, and Fox that varies by city, plus NFL Network and a handful of other channels.

Sling Select’s local channel availability is limited, but there are some markets where it makes sense for football coverage. New Yorkers, for instance, can use Sling Select to get every Giants game on Fox, plus Sunday Night Football and any Monday Night Football games that air on ABC.

Sling Select costs $20 per month in markets with one or fewer local channels, $25 per month in markets with two local channels, and $30 per month in markets with three. See Sling’s local channel chart too see what’s available in each market.

If you’d rather have everything in one app, plus NFL Network

• Subscribe to DirecTV MySports for $70 per month
• What you get: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, all of ESPN’s channels, all of Fox’s sports channels, NFL Network, Golf Channel, MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, TBS, TNT, TruTV, USA, major cable news networks.

This option will still be cheaper than standard pay TV packages, and you’ll get more overall sports coverage than the standalone options mentioned earlier. You’ll just have to do without cable’s entertainment channels.

As with DirecTV’s MyNews package, local channel availability varies by market. Head to DirecTV’s MySports page, then click the “See 20+ channels” link to see what’s covered in your area.

For occasional ESPN coverage only

• Sign up for a $5 Sling Day Pass, $10 weekend pass, or $15 week pass
• What you’ll get: ESPN, TNT, and a bunch of other basic cable channels

Sling’s newly launched day passes could come in handy if you get local channels with an antenna or via DirecTV MyNews. Instead of paying for an entire month of ESPN’s service just to watch one or two Monday Night Football games, you could buy a day pass for a fraction of the price.

If you just want a regular pay TV package

• Consider YouTube TV ($83 per month), Hulu + Live TV ($83 per month), Fubo (starting at $98 per month), or DirecTV’s signature packages (starting at $90 per month)
• What you’ll get: A broad mix of local, sports, news, and entertainment channels

While they’re not as flexible or inexpensive as the other options I mentioned, a standard live TV streaming service will give you a package of channels that more closely resembles cable.

If your favorite team plays at home in a different city from where you live

• And you absolutely must watch live: Subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket ($480 per season)
• And only need to see the big moments or don’t mind catching up on games after they’re over: Subscribe to NFL+ Premium ($15 per month or $100 per year)

YouTube has the exclusive rights to out-of-market games via Sunday Ticket, but you might be able to eke by with NFL+ Premium’s partial coverage. If you’re balking at the price, NFL+ Premium gets you NFL Redzone’s whiparound coverage (so you’ll at least see your team’s scoring drives) along with full game replays after they’re over.

More to come

This is a quickly-evolving situation, with new bundles arriving at a rapid clip ahead of football season. Fubo, for instance, plans to launch its own cheaper sports bundle soon, and we may see more attempts to bundle standalone services together at a discount. Stay tuned for more updates.

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