The Best Football Streaming Services in 2026
No single service carries all of football — the games are split across broadcast, cable, conference networks and streaming exclusives. Here's what each option costs in 2026 and which football it actually gets you. (Prices are US monthly rates as of the 2026 season and can change.)
Live-TV streamers (the closest thing to "everything")
These carry the broadcast and cable networks — the backbone of an NFL/college football diet. The key differences are price and exactly which cable/conference channels they include.
| YouTube TV | ~$82.99/mo — 100+ channels incl. locals (CBS/FOX/NBC/ABC), ESPN networks, FS1, NFL Network; home of NFL Sunday Ticket. RedZone via the Sports Plus add-on (~$10.99/mo). |
| Hulu + Live TV | ~$89.99/mo — locals, ESPN networks, FS1; bundles Disney+ and ESPN's service. |
| Fubo | ~$85/mo — strong on sports incl. locals, ESPN, FS1, plus RSNs; long a soccer/football favorite. |
| Sling TV | ~$45.99/mo per plan (Orange or Blue), ~$60.99 combined — cheaper but check locals; Blue has FOX/NBC + FS1, Orange has ESPN. |
| DirecTV Stream | from ~$89.99/mo — broad channel lists incl. locals, ESPN, FS1; higher tiers add more. |
Streaming exclusives you'll also want
- Peacock — every NFL Sunday Night Football game, plus Big Ten and Notre Dame college games.
- Amazon Prime Video — NFL Thursday Night Football (Prime membership), plus the Black Friday game.
- Netflix — a five-game 2026 NFL slate (the Week 1 Melbourne game, Thanksgiving Eve, a Christmas double-header, a Week 18 Saturday game).
- ESPN app / ESPN+ — Monday Night Football, huge college football volume (SEC Network+, ACCNX, ESPN+-exclusive games), plus TNT-shared CFP games stream on HBO Max.
- Paramount+ — CBS's in-market NFL and college games.
NFL-specific: Sunday Ticket, RedZone, NFL+
- NFL Sunday Ticket (YouTube / YouTube TV) — out-of-market Sunday afternoon games; a season-long add-on (around $378 on YouTube TV for 2026). It does not include national games (SNF/MNF/TNF) or your local games.
- NFL RedZone — every scoring play across the Sunday afternoon windows; available via streamer sports add-ons or NFL+ Premium (~$10/mo, which includes it).
- NFL+ — mobile/tablet live local & primetime games and other league content; the Premium tier adds RedZone and full-game replays.
The free options
Don't overlook them. An over-the-air antenna gets you CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC and The CW free — which covers a large share of NFL Sundays, primetime, and marquee college games in your market. And CFL+ streams most of the Canadian Football League free. For many fans, an antenna plus one or two streaming apps covers almost everything they actually watch.
Which should you pick?
Most NFL fans: antenna (free locals) + Peacock (SNF) + a Prime membership (TNF), adding a live-TV streamer for ESPN/MNF. College fans generally need a live-TV streamer for the ESPN and conference networks, plus ESPN+. Then layer Sunday Ticket only if you follow an out-of-market NFL team. See each league's guide — NFL, college football, CFL — for the specifics.
