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The NFL released its full 2024 schedule last week. To no one's surprise, it contains a veritable smorgasbord of football options. From an opening night clash between the Chiefs and Ravens through Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, America's most popular sports league is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at its fans in the coming season.
Ask any fan if more football is a good thing and you'll likely get an almost instant reply of "Yes!" (this usually happens while their significant others are rolling their eyes), as the favorite three-word mantra of hardcore NFL followers for decades has been "Give me more!"
Well...the league, the owners, the networks, and the streaming services have all heard you loud and clear. As a result, 2024 will be the most jam-packed NFL season we've ever seen, meaning you can watch more football on more days in more ways and in more places than ever before. However, as the old saying goes, there are no free lunches, which means you'll need to spend more money, invest more time, and add a few more streaming options if you want to capture the entire 2024 NFL experience.
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Only On Days That End In "Y"
Since establishing itself as a Sunday tradition, the NFL learned that it could also command a huge audience on Monday nights, an enjoyable (and very profitable) experiment so well received that we happily added Monday Night Football to our weekly football calendars. Then came Thursday night, which wasn't nearly as enjoyable (though still very profitable) but at least presented us with another opportunity to watch football, make bets, and sweat our fantasy lineups.
Thanksgiving/Black Friday slate offers up three divisional tilts (via @TheNickShook)https://t.co/nCaLMXizqb
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) May 18, 2024
Saturdays were the sacred domain of college football for years, but the big boys broke that barrier long ago, too, introducing some late-season Saturday action decades ago. Thanksgiving football was a tradition eons before Thursday prime-time games were introduced, but last season we saw the introduction of Black Friday action to help ease our post-Turkey Day withdrawals. It will return in 2024 with the Raiders and Chiefs set to clash at 3:00 p.m. ET, undoubtedly a time selected so you could finish your morning shopping spree without feeling rushed.
With Thanksgiving sufficiently covered, the NFL decided to go big-game hunting this year and has scheduled an unprecedented Christmas Day doubleheader on Netflix (more on that in just a second) for Wednesday, December 25. By my count, that means we'll have football on six out of the seven days of the week this season. Apparently, not even the NFL likes Tuesdays.
Honey, What's Our Peacock Password?
In order to bring you football on (almost) every day, on every holiday, on every possible platform, the NFL decided that plain old-fashioned broadcast television just wasn't sufficient, or more likely, not willing to pony up as much money as the streaming services. I'm sorry to say that those of you who are old enough to remember when the NFL on Fox was considered a groundbreaking development might have a hard time keeping up with the game you love this year.
So if you plan on watching the NFL in 2024 in its entirety, you'll need NBC, Fox, CBS, ABC, ESPN, ESPN+, YouTube TV (Sunday Ticket), Amazon Prime, Peacock, and Netflix.
An expensive time to be a fan even from your couch. https://t.co/rpvE27Wiub pic.twitter.com/KgVrOJlHx3
— Andy Morgan (@AndyMorganTV) May 15, 2024
If the NFL's unprecedented deal with Amazon cracked the door to a new age of football viewing and last year's playoff game on Peacock sent it even further ajar, it will be completely kicked off the hinges in 2024. In addition to weekly Thursday night games and the Black Friday special on Amazon Prime Video, the NFL also reached a deal with the other streaming giant, Netflix, which will dip its toe into the live sports waters by broadcasting two games on Christmas Day this season.
Ok, so most of us already have Netflix, and probably Amazon, too...not a huge deal. However, the march to digital services doesn't end there. If you want to catch every game this year, you'll also need Peacock (to catch a Friday game being played in Brazil), as well as ESPN+ for a handful of matchups. Yes, you are noticing a trend, and no, there's no end in sight.
Price Is What You Pay, Value Is What You Get
We've pretty firmly established that simply clicking on the TV in hopes you will find the game you really want to watch is already an antiquated effort. Sure, some folks will be content to passively take in whatever Sunday afternoon game CBS or Fox serves them up each week, but for some of us, that's simply not going to get it done. As with most things, if you want more football, it's gonna cost you both money and effort.
Let's say we're all in this year. Whether it be for improving our fantasy prowess, sweating out wagers, or simply because we just really love football, let's say that we want the option to access every NFL game in 2024. What sort of price are we looking at?
Alright, fine, let's figure out what it actually is:
23-week NFL season. Weeks 1-SB.
If you want preseason too, that's on you.💰Youtube TV: $73/m, you're gonna need 6 months of it - $438
💰NFL Sunday Ticket: $350 (probably discounted at some point)
💰Peacock: Brazil game is…— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) May 15, 2024
Well, even though broadcast TV is becoming a dinosaur, that's still where we'll find plenty of games, so we'll need a package -- let's say YouTube TV at $72.99 per month -- with access to ABC/ESPN, CBS, Fox, and NBC. Even with all those channels, we'll still only get nationally televised games with regional action in some time slots, so we'd need to bring out the big guns and pony up for NFL Sunday Ticket, the $349 per year crown jewel of football fandom, if we want real options. While this covers a lot -- for a fairly hefty price tag, mind you -- it's still not everything.
Remember those juicy new deals the NFL signed with the streaming giants? Yes, we have to include monthly subscriptions for those at a price between $5.99 to $10.99 each in our calculations. Let's be generous and not even throw in the cost of high-speed internet, while also assuming you already have a smart TV -- both of which you'll need to access these streaming platforms -- and we can estimate our total expenditures to watch everything the NFL has to offer in 2024 at right around $1,000 bucks for the season. Are you ready for some football?
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