That eye-popping price tag, which averages nearly $160 per month over the season, forces fans to navigate a wide range of platforms in order to watch every game. A complete viewing package now requires separate subscriptions to services like Amazon Prime for Thursday Night Football, Peacock for certain exclusive games, and the costly NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV for out-of-market matchups.

The NFL is cashing in by signing these huge deals with streaming services. The NFL generated an estimated $12 billion from media rights last year. Each of these services charges separate fees for viewers, and many fans are running out of affordable ways to watch their teams.

In 2021, Amazon agreed to a 10-year, $1 billion annual deal that would start in 2022 for exclusive access to the Thursday Night Football games. Since then, they’ve added a Black Friday game and a Wildcard playoff game.

Amazon Prime Video became the first digital streaming service with exclusive access to NFL games, making it a massive controversy at the time, especially for older, more traditional fans who watched on cable. The deal forced people to pay $14.99/month if their team played on a Thursday night. Nearly every team has a Thursday Night Football game.

Amazon was only the beginning. Just last year, Netflix partnered with the NFL amid a political controversy. Netflix’s co-founder, Reed Hastings, donated $7 million to fund Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. This was just two months after the NFL announced it would be giving Netflix exclusive access to the 2024 Christmas Day doubleheader.

Ultimately, the controversy did not affect the viewership. The Christmas Day games hit record views, and the NFL extended Netflix’s deal through 2026.

Most recently, ESPN made a deal with the NFL, acquiring NFL Network. The agreement includes the NFL’s most popular Sunday channel, NFL RedZone. ESPN already had exclusive access to Monday Night Football but decided to invest more in the league.

Shortly after obtaining RedZone, ESPN announced it would be incorporating advertisements into what was once host Scott Hanson’s famous “7 hours of commercial-free football.” 

The decision infuriated NFL fans, with some even threatening to boycott. Saint Paul’s sophomore Benjamin Johnson was one of many not in favor of the RedZone advertisements. “Commercials defeat the whole purpose of RedZone Channel. Fans specifically pay for this service so they don’t have to watch commercials,” argued Johnson.

Senior NFL insider Adam Schefter, in a tweet, assured viewers the ads would be very limited, saying they would be “considerably less than other sports/entertainment programs.” 

After the start of the season, RedZone viewers thought it would be a lot worse. Over the entire seven-hour show, there were only four 15-second ads each week. All the advertisements served as distractions, since they were split-screened with the game, lightening the frustration.

However, many fans are not pleased with the new pricing. Despite the deal with ESPN, RedZone is not included with ESPN+. It is still a separate subscription. ESPN made a bundle for $39.99/month that includes NFL+ Premium and RedZone as an addition to a previous bundle. This adds $10 for fans who already have the one with Disney and Hulu for $30 each month.

NFL+ Premium, by itself, is $14.99/month, and it allows users to watch local and primetime games on their phone. Many die-hard fans believe that it is well worth the investment and are adding it to their Disney+ and ESPN subscriptions; however, others are frustrated that it’s not included with their original ESPN subscription.

On Sept. 3, StreamEast—an illegal pirating website with 1.6 billion annual visits—was shut down. The site had allowed users to stream exclusive NFL games for free. This shutdown was a big deal for Gen-Z sports fans because a lot of them relied on it to watch. “I understand why they shut it down,” said Saint Paul’s sophomore Finley Pendergrass, “but now one of my main connections to football is gone.”

The NFL has also cracked down on copyright infringements on YouTube this year, according to many NFL experts who post clips or highlights on YouTube or X (formerly Twitter).

These shutdowns are a huge win for all streaming services, as they forced more fans to buy the pricey subscriptions. Many don’t see this as coincidental.

One of the most expensive of these subscriptions is NFL Sunday Ticket. Sunday Ticket is available only on YouTube and YouTube TV this year, and it costs a whopping $378 for returning subscribers. It includes access to all Sunday games.

This high price tag is a tough pill to swallow for those who live far from their team, as they will not be able to watch their team’s game on their local FOX channel.

Perhaps the $785 price tag and subscription to six different streaming services to watch all NFL games this year is simply a sign of the times, or a money grab by the league, but should it be this hard to watch the NFL?