How NFL Games Reach Your Screen: Broadcast Packages and Rights
Why your local channel shows one game and not another, how rights are divided among networks and streaming services, what an out-of-market package is, and where the money goes.
It is Sunday afternoon and you want to watch a game involving a team from another part of the country. You turn on the local channel and get a different game entirely. A friend in another city sees yours. Your cousin can stream a game you cannot find on any channel you have. It can feel arbitrary, as if someone were rationing football on purpose.
There is a system behind it, and it follows a few consistent principles. The league sells the rights to its games in packages, each package goes to a different company, and a set of rules decides which games appear in which markets. This guide explains how the packages are organized, why your viewing options depend on where you live, and how the rights connect to the money that runs the league.
One caution up front: the specific companies that hold each package, and the prices they pay, change when contracts are renewed. We describe the structure, which has stayed stable for a long time, and we leave names and dollar figures to the league's current announcements.
The league sells games as a pool
The NFL negotiates its major television rights as a league, not team by team. That is possible because of the Sports Broadcasting Act, passed by Congress in 1961, which allows professional sports leagues to sell broadcast rights collectively. The result is that every club shares in the proceeds equally, which is one of the pillars of the league's finances. We cover that side of the story in NFL Revenue Sharing.
The league divides its games into packages, each with its own rules about when the games are played and where they are shown. Different companies buy different packages. The main kinds are described below.
The main packages
Sunday afternoon games
The largest package covers games played on Sunday afternoons, which make up most of the schedule. These games air on broadcast networks, the free over-the-air channels that anyone with an antenna or a cable or satellite subscription can receive.
The traditional arrangement divides the Sunday afternoon games between two networks by conference. One network holds the rights to games in which the visiting team is from the American Football Conference, and another holds the rights to games in which the visiting team is from the National Football Conference. In a game between teams from different conferences, the network is determined by the visitor. The league has also allowed some flexibility, letting networks swap games in certain circumstances, so check the current contracts for the details.
Sunday night, Monday night and Thursday night
The league also sells a package of primetime games. These are national broadcasts shown in the evening, where the game is the main attraction for the entire country. A different company holds each of the primetime slots, and the lineup of companies has changed over the years. The league generally requires that primetime games also be available on free over-the-air television in the markets of the two teams playing, even when a streaming service carries the national broadcast. If you want to know how those games are chosen, read Flexible Scheduling. For the history of the Monday slot, see Monday Night Football: History and Impact.
Holiday and special games
Certain dates carry their own games, including the Thanksgiving slate and some late-season Saturday dates. They are part of the primetime and special-event packages, and different networks may broadcast them.
Postseason and the championship
The playoffs are divided among the league's network partners, with the Super Bowl rotating among the broadcast partners on a regular cycle. The rights for the playoffs are part of the same contracts as the regular season. See The Super Bowl for how the game itself is organized.
Streaming and digital rights
In recent years, streaming companies have bought packages of games, and the league has also created services of its own. These agreements are new compared with the network deals and change faster, so the exact games and services available depend on the current contracts. The principle is the same as always: the rights holder pays for a defined set of games and chooses how to deliver them within the league's rules.
Out-of-market packages
For fans who want to watch games not shown in their area, the league sells a separate out-of-market package, which includes Sunday afternoon games from around the country. It is sold by a distribution partner under an agreement that has changed over time, and it is priced and offered separately from ordinary television. These packages generally exclude games already available locally, which is why they are described as "out of market."
Radio and audio
Games are also broadcast on radio. There is a national radio package, and each team has its own radio network that carries games for its fans. Local radio rights are part of the local revenue that a team keeps for itself, as opposed to the national money that is pooled.
Why your local channel shows what it shows
The network that holds the Sunday afternoon rights does not show every game everywhere. It sends different games to different regions, in what fans call regional coverage. Here is how that works.
- The network gets a set of games each week. That includes a game assigned as the main national broadcast and others for particular regions.
- Home markets get priority. The network is expected to show the home team's game in that team's home market. Your local team's game will usually be on your local channel, even if a bigger game is happening elsewhere.
- Neighboring markets may follow. Cities close to a team, or with a strong fan base, may also get that game.
- The network chooses the remaining games. The network's schedulers decide which other game to show to the rest of the country, often favoring matchups they expect to draw more viewers.
- Time slots matter. Some Sunday afternoon games start at one time and others later in the afternoon. One network may have a game in the early window and the other in the late window, and the arrangement can shift week to week.
That is why a friend in another city sees a different game. A coverage map published each week shows which games air where. The map is built before the games and is available online, usually by midweek, though the timing varies.
The 'single-network doubleheader'
Sunday afternoons usually have an early window and a late window. In a typical week, one of the two networks is given the "doubleheader": it shows a game in the early window and another in the late window, in most of the country. The other network shows only the early window in most places and uses the late window for just the regions where it has a game. The networks take turns having the doubleheader from week to week. The exact rules come from the league's contracts, so check them if you need the details.
Blackouts
For many years, the league had a policy that kept games off local television if the stadium did not sell enough tickets by a deadline. The rule was meant to protect ticket sales. The league stopped applying it in the mid-2010s, and games are now shown locally in the ordinary way. If you hear a fan talk about blackouts, they are probably describing the older system.
The money behind the packages
Television is the league's largest source of revenue. The companies that hold the packages pay rights fees, which are the main source of the national revenue that every club shares. Those payments also help determine the salary cap, because the cap is tied to league revenue under the collective bargaining agreement. Our explainer on the collective bargaining agreement connects the dots.
Rights fees are only part of the picture. Advertising during broadcasts pays for much of what the networks spend. The league also earns money from its own media operations and from licensing the content to other outlets. The details change each time the contracts are renegotiated.
Why contracts shape the schedule
The way packages are divided influences when games are played. Primetime slots are valuable to broadcasters, which is why the league is careful about which games go there. The network holding a package gets a say in the matchups that fill it, and it is why a team's schedule includes a mix of afternoon and evening games. For how the schedule is built, see The NFL Schedule Formula.
Terms you will see in a listing
A few words come up repeatedly on schedules and coverage maps. Knowing them makes the listings easier to read.
- National broadcast. A game shown to the whole country, typically in a primetime slot or as the featured game of a Sunday window.
- Regional broadcast. A game shown in a particular part of the country but not everywhere.
- Local broadcast. The station in a team's home market, which carries that team's games.
- Cross-flex. A practice, introduced in the 2010s, that lets the league move a game from one Sunday network to the other, so that a conference's usual network can end up with a game it would not ordinarily carry. It is one reason the visiting-conference rule has exceptions.
- Simulcast. The same game shown on more than one platform at once, such as a broadcast network and a streaming service.
- Window. A block of time on Sunday afternoon during which games kick off, such as the early window and the late window.
- Exclusive. A game available on only one service. The league has used exclusive streaming games on a limited basis, usually alongside local over-the-air coverage in the two participating markets.
What cord-cutting changed
A growing number of households no longer subscribe to a traditional cable or satellite package. For football, the effect is mostly about how the same games reach people. Broadcast network games can be received with an ordinary antenna in many places, and the networks and the league also offer ways to watch online, subject to the rules of each service and the viewer's location. Streaming-exclusive games require a subscription to the particular service that holds them. A viewer who watches only through streaming may need several subscriptions to cover a full season, while a viewer with an antenna still gets the network games in their area for free.
The practical advice is to check each week's schedule for where the game you want is shown, rather than assuming it will be on the same service every time. Because contracts change, the answer one year may differ from the next.
A little history
Football on television is almost as old as the medium. The early decades featured regional, team-by-team deals that favored large markets. The league's pivot to a collective approach, enabled by the 1961 law, gave the sport a national footing. As time passed, the number of games on television grew, the network partners changed, cable networks entered the picture and, more recently, streaming companies joined. We trace that arc in The Rise of Television and the NFL.
A pretend Sunday
Here is an invented example of how a Sunday might look in one city. A local team is playing at home in the early afternoon. The local station of the network with the home team's conference rights shows that game because it is the local team. Later in the afternoon, the other network shows its game of the week, picked by its producers, to most of the country. A fan who wants a game that neither network is showing locally could use an out-of-market package or a service that carries the game. That evening, the national primetime game is on a different network or streaming service, and the participating teams' local markets also get it on over-the-air television.
Nothing in the example refers to a real team or contract. It shows the pattern that most fans experience.
How to find the game you want
If you are trying to locate a game, a few steps help.
- Check the weekly coverage map. It shows which games air in your area. Several sports sites publish it.
- Check the national slots. Primetime games are shown nationally on a known set of services. The schedule lists dates and times.
- Look at the out-of-market options. If the game is not shown locally, a package or an authorized streaming service may carry it.
- Use radio or live updates. Local radio carries every team's games, and the scores page updates live.
- Confirm rights. Be wary of unauthorized streams. The legitimate ways to watch are the ones the league's partners offer.
Common misunderstandings
"The league decides what my channel shows." The network that holds the rights chooses among the games it has, within the league's rules.
"Every game is on national TV." Most are not. Many games are shown only in certain regions.
"If the game isn't on, it's a blackout." Most gaps are simply regional coverage choices.
"Streaming has replaced broadcast TV." Streaming has added options, but a large share of games still air on over-the-air networks.
"All contracts are permanent." They are renegotiated periodically, and the arrangement can change significantly between contracts.
The short version
- The NFL sells its games as packages, and the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 lets it do so collectively.
- Sunday afternoon games air on broadcast networks, traditionally divided by the visiting team's conference.
- Primetime games are national, and the participating teams' home markets generally get them on free television too.
- Regional coverage means your local channel shows the home team and other games its network selects, so friends in other cities see different games.
- Out-of-market packages cover games not shown locally, and streaming companies now hold some packages.
- Rights fees are the league's largest revenue source and feed the salary cap.
- Contracts change, so check the current announcements for who holds which package.