How to watch NFL on TV & online

American Football is finally back for the long-awaited 2024/25 season and for fans, there are more ways to stream NFL live and on-demand than ever before, some of which are free.

If you’re in the UK, you arguably have a better deal for watching America’s biggest sport on TV and online, despite caveats like blackouts on the official NFL Game Pass streaming service.

US viewers typically have to jump around different broadcasters and providers to watch all games, while UK fans have a fairly straightforward set of choices. We will explain them all, don’t worry.

Kansas City Chiefs won the most recent Super Bowl (for the second time in a row) and are one of the favourites to get there again but so are plenty of other top teams including the 49ers, Ravens, Bengals and others. There could be a surprise like the Jets, if Aaron Rodgers can stay healthy, or even the unofficial UK team, the Jaguars.

But however it goes, and to quote Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora, “The NFL never disappoints”.

Which NFL games are on UK TV?

Each week we’ll update which games you can watch on TV, between Sky and Channel 5 (plus two London games on ITV) with kick-off times and channels. Just remember that many games will be in the middle of the night in the UK.

Week 7

Sun 20 Oct

• New England Patriots @ Jaguars – 2:30pm – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event, ITV1 (London)
• Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings – 6pm – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event
• Kansas City Chiefs @ San Francisco 49ers – 9:25pm – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event

Mon 21 Oct

• New York Jets @ Pittsburgh Steelers – 1:20am – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event

Tue 22 Oct

• Baltimore Ravens @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 1:15am – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event, Channel 5
• Los Angeles Chargers @ Arizona Cardinals – 2:00am – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event

Live stream on NFL Game Pass with DAZN 

The NFL Game Pass is the sport’s official online streaming service in the UK – a bit like Netflix just for American football. It allows you to watch games live or on-demand throughout the season and is available on the web or via various devices with the app.  

Game Pass is once again hosted by DAZN after moving last season (but you don’t need a DAZN plan). It’s a global sports streaming service and only restricted in the USA and China so it’s not just a UK service. 

It’s more of the same in 2024 but the big news is that game downloads are back. The popular feature of Game Pass over the years means you can download games (in full or highlights) for offline viewing, perfect for your commute. 

Games include the US broadcast for commentary and half-time analysis. There are also NFL shows such as Hard Knocks and A Football Life available as part of the service. 

DAZN is available on a range of devices with apps for Android, iOS, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast and consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

The good news is that there’s a free plan on offer if highlights, game previews, NFL Network content and the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine is enough for you.  

Otherwise, you need to pay for the Season Pro plan, which is £159.99/€179.99 for the season or you can pay 12 monthly payments of £15.99/€17.99.  

Alternatively, you can get Weekly Pro for £14.99/€17.99 but it will cost you more if you watch the whole season. 

Either way, you regular season and postseason games as well as the Super Bowl, live RedZone and loads more:  

• NFL Draft rounds 1-7 live  
• Previous season highlights and full game replays   
• NFL originals & programs including Hard Knocks  

One of the big caveats here is that not every game will be available live as there are broadcasting blackout rules that apply. Essentially, Sky Sports has priority for certain games so you can only watch them on Game Pass 24 hours later.  

DAZN says this will apply to two Sunday games each week (6pm and 9pm kickoffs) but the following games won’t be affected by blackout:  

• All Monday, Thursday, and Sunday night games   
• All U.S. Thanksgiving Day games (Thursday 28 November)   
• All Playoff games   
• Super Bowl LIX  
• Any postseason games 

Blackouts are really the only downside as you can use Game Pass abroad without the need for a VPN, as long as you’re not in the US or China.  

NFL Game Pass on Amazon Prime Video and YouTube 

New for this year is the ability to watch Game Pass on Amazon Prime Video or YouTube as an add-on channel subscription. 

It will still cost you £159.99 for the season or £29.99 per month (cancel any time) but be aware that you can’t still use the DAZN app. 

Game Pass on Amazon Prime Video is available in the UK, Germany, France, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil . It’s only available at £29.99 per month, cancel any time.

Watch NFL on Sky Sports

As you might have guessed already, Sky is the main place to watch NFL on broadcast TV in the UK as usual.

These days, the broadcaster even has a dedicated Sky Sports NFL channel (Sky 407 / Virgin Media 507). Some games will also be shown on Main Event and Action channels. 

It’s now customary for Sky Sports to show five live games per week with three Sunday games as well as Thursday and Monday Night Football. Typically there will be over 100 games shown on Sky Sports every season. 

Subscribers also get access to NFL RedZone for all the big plays and touchdowns as well as plenty of other content: 

• Monday and Thursday Night Football 
• Selected Sunday night games 
• Live NFL RedZone 
• Fantasy Live 
• Good Morning Football 
• Total Access 
• Hard Knocks

So, if you’re a Sky customer with Sky Sports, simply tune into the NFL channel (or alternatives) when games are on to watch them live (see the schedule above to see which games are on). You can also watch via Sky Go. 

However, Sky has other ways of watching if you don’t want to be a full-on satellite customer. You can watch on a wide range of devices including smartphones and consoles via Now (previously named Now TV) with a Now Sports membership (previously called a Sky Sports Pass). 

These start at £14.99 for a one-off Day Membership (24 hours) but you are likely better off getting the 12-Month Saver Membership if you plan to watch lots of games. It’s £26 per month and includes a 7-day free trial of Now Boost.

The other option is a monthly, cancel any time plan which is £34.99 per month. 

Note that you’ll need Now Boost (normally £6 per month) to watch in Full HD quality along with Dolby 5.1 surround sound. It also takes the number of devices you can stream on simultaneously to three (normally one). 

View all the Now passes here.

Watch NFL on Channel 5

Anyone who’s been following the NFL from the UK for a long time will remember watching games on Channel 5. 

After a hiatus since 2009, the channel returned to the action for the 20/21 season and has continued to show regular season games since. 

The only snag is that they are all Monday Night Football games, which here in the UK means putting the kettle or coffee pot on for a 1am Tuesday morning start time. Channel 5 is a free-to-air channel though, so if you have the means, it’s possible to record the game and watch it at a more sociable hour. 

You can also check out End Zone, the channel’s Sunday morning NFL show which is on at 10:30am bringing you “All the latest American football action from the NFL” from Cori Yarckin and team.

Watch NFL on ITV

Now in the final year of a three-year contract, you will get to see some NFL on ITV, although not much. If you’re not watching via aerial or satellite then you can use ITVX for streaming. 

After a random pre-season game airing, the channel will show two of the games being hosted in London as well as the Super Bowl.  

Once again, a weekly highlights show will air on Friday nights (normally 11:30pm) which is hosted by Jason Bell, Osi Umenyiora and Craig Doyle. 

You can also watch past seasons of Hard Knocks, Undiscovered and A Football Life. 

Where to watch NFL in the US without cable

This guide is mostly UK-focused but if you are in the land of the free, then watching NFL can be a bit of a pain because it’s shown across lots of channels including Fox Sports, NBC, CBS, ESPN, ABC, NFL Network and, more recently, streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

Having all of those to catch every game might be too difficult and costly but you do have a couple of neater options. 

NFL+ is the official streaming service (called Game Pass in the UK) and provides live local and primetime games (regular, postseason and Super Bowl) on your phone or tablet. Replays are available if you get the NFL+ Premium subscription which includes Red Zone. 

The service starts at $6.99 per month and you can take advantage of a 7-day free trial. 

There are more options than ever including SlingTV and YouTube TV, Hulu+ Live TV and, for the first time, games on Peacock via NBCUniversal. Find out more in our full guide over on our sister site, TechHive. 

Alternatively, the simplest and cheapest way to get NFL games on any TV is with a digital antenna. If you’re near a metropolitan area, CBS, Fox, NBC, and CBS show games every Sunday, and you can watch them for free but without any of the modern goodies like recording or pausing, of course.

Watch NFL abroad with a VPN

Services like Sky Go and ITVX are geo-restricted outside the UK, but that doesn’t mean you can’t watch the NFL when you’re overseas.

All you need do is download and use VPN service such as NordVPN that will mask your IP address and make it appear to the app that you are in fact in the UK.

Simply log in, select a UK server and you can then browse Sky’s services in your web browser and watch whatever you like.

Of course, you can also use the same trick to appear to browse from the US and access US services – but you will find it easier and cheaper to watch the sport from the UK anyway.

Read our guide to what a VPN is and what the best VPNs are.

NFL International Games 2024

Here are the confirmed details for the next set of international games.

• 6 Sep – Green Bay Packers vs Philidelphia Eagles – Corinthians Arena (Sao Paolo, Brazil)
• 6 Oct – Minnesota Vikings vs New York Jets – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)
• 13 Oct – Chicago Bears vs Jacksonville Jaguars – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)
• 20 Oct – Jacksonville Jaguars vs New England Patriots – Wembley Stadium (London)
• 10 Nov – Carolina Panthers vs New York Giants – Allianz Arena (Munich, Germany)