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The 2022 NFL season ran from September 8, 2022, through Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023. This guide evaluates the services and rights arrangement as they existed during that season, not their current plans, prices, or distribution deals.
The short answer: choose by the games you actually watch
The right 2022 service depended on whether you wanted local Sunday afternoon games, a particular national broadcast window, or every Sunday afternoon game involving a team outside your market.
| What you wanted to watch | Best 2022 option | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Local Sunday afternoon games and major national windows | A live-TV streaming bundle | Channel availability depended on your ZIP code, local affiliates, plan, and provider. |
| Thursday Night Football | Prime Video for Thursday Night Football | It did not include Sunday afternoon, Sunday Night Football, or Monday Night Football as a complete slate. |
| Low-cost mobile viewing, preseason, audio, or replays | NFL+ | It was not a live out-of-market Sunday afternoon package for television screens. |
| Local CBS Sunday games | Paramount+ | It did not include FOX, NBC, ESPN, Prime Video, or Sunday Ticket coverage. |
| Sunday Night Football | Peacock | It was a Sunday-night streaming option, not a complete NFL subscription. |
| Monday Night Football | ESPN through an eligible TV provider | ESPN+ alone was not the general replacement for ESPN’s Monday Night Football channel feed. |
| Every out-of-market Sunday afternoon game | NFL Sunday Ticket through DIRECTV | It was a premium out-of-market package and did not replace local or nationally televised games. |
Best overall for most cord-cutters: a live-TV bundle plus Prime Video
For a viewer who wanted the broadest practical mix of local and nationally televised games without satellite, the most straightforward 2022 setup was a live-TV streaming service carrying the relevant broadcast networks, paired with Prime Video.
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The live-TV bundle needed to match your market and plan. In broad terms, CBS and FOX carried Sunday afternoon games; NBC carried Sunday Night Football; ESPN, with some games also distributed through ABC, carried Monday Night Football and selected national games; and NFL Network carried games assigned to that channel. A provider’s brand name did not guarantee access to every one of those networks in every ZIP code.
Prime Video was a separate requirement for the 2022 Thursday Night Football package. Amazon’s first exclusive Prime Video game was scheduled for September 15, 2022, and the package included 15 regular-season games plus one preseason game. The competing teams’ home markets also had local over-the-air broadcast exceptions. Amazon offered access through Prime Video apps and the website, connected TVs, mobile devices, and Twitch, along with features such as Spanish-language alternate coverage and interactive X-Ray information.
This combination covered the main local Sunday and national windows for many viewers, plus Thursday nights. It still did not provide every out-of-market Sunday afternoon game. That required a separate Sunday Ticket package.
Which live-TV streaming bundles were worth comparing?
In 2022, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, fuboTV, and DIRECTV STREAM were all relevant comparison points for viewers building an NFL setup. The deciding question was not simply which brand advertised the most sports. It was whether the service carried your local CBS, FOX, NBC, and ABC affiliates and the national networks required by your viewing plan.
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- YouTube TV: A strong general-purpose option when its base plan included the necessary local and national channels in your market. Its NFL guidance made an important distinction: the base plan handled local and national broadcasts, while Sunday Ticket was a separate product for out-of-market Sunday afternoon games.
- Hulu + Live TV: A general live-TV bundle to consider when it carried the required local affiliates and national networks in your area. It was not an all-games NFL service or a Sunday Ticket substitute.
- fuboTV: A sports-focused live-TV option when its 2022 channel lineup matched your local affiliates and required national networks. Its sports positioning did not mean it included the DIRECTV Sunday Ticket package.
- DIRECTV STREAM: A live-TV streaming service that could be evaluated for network coverage, but it should not be confused with satellite DIRECTV’s 2022 NFL Sunday Ticket distribution. A DIRECTV STREAM subscription did not automatically mean that Sunday Ticket was included.
Because local-channel carriage, plan tiers, pricing, and regional availability change, the correct 2022 buying process was to enter your ZIP code and verify the channels before subscribing. The same service could be a good NFL choice in one market and a poor one in another.
Best cheap direct subscription: NFL+
NFL+ was the most useful low-cost direct subscription for viewers whose habits matched its limits. The service launched on July 25, 2022. The base plan cost $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year at launch and included live local and primetime regular-season and postseason games on mobile and tablet devices, live out-of-market preseason games across devices, live audio for every game, and NFL library programming.
NFL+ Premium cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year and added full-game replays, condensed replays, and Coaches Film. That made the premium tier more attractive to viewers who watched after games ended or wanted more detailed replay tools rather than live Sunday afternoon television.
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Its central limitation was rights scope and device access. NFL+ was not a substitute for the live out-of-market Sunday afternoon package supplied by Sunday Ticket. The base service’s local and primetime live-game access was oriented toward mobile and tablet viewing, while out-of-market preseason games were available across supported devices.
Choose an NFL+ annual subscription if you primarily watch on a phone or tablet, want preseason games, listen to games while away from a television, or care more about replays than live out-of-market Sunday afternoons. Do not buy it expecting to watch every Sunday game involving a team outside your local market on a television.
Best for Thursday Night Football: Prime Video
Amazon’s 2022 season was the first in which Prime Video carried the NFL’s season-long exclusive national Thursday Night Football package. The package contained 15 regular-season games and one preseason game, making Prime Video the clearest choice for a viewer whose priority was Thursday night.
Prime Video supported viewing through its app and website, connected-TV applications, mobile devices, and Twitch. Amazon also promoted Spanish-language alternate coverage and interactive X-Ray features. In the home markets of the teams playing, the game was also available through local over-the-air television, so the national streaming exclusivity did not apply identically to every viewer.
Prime Video was a focused solution, not an all-season replacement. It did not cover Sunday afternoon’s full local or out-of-market schedule, Sunday Night Football’s NBC package, or Monday Night Football’s ESPN package. If Thursday Night Football was the only NFL window you cared about, it could stand alone. If you wanted a broader schedule, it belonged alongside a live-TV bundle or other targeted services.
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Paramount+ was the relevant direct-to-consumer service for NFL games carried by CBS, including NFL on CBS, subject to local-market availability and the applicable subscription tier.
That made Paramount+ useful as a supplement for viewers who wanted to stream the CBS portion of Sunday afternoon coverage without purchasing a full live-TV bundle. It did not provide FOX’s Sunday afternoon games, NBC’s full Sunday Night Football schedule, ESPN’s Monday Night Football channel feed, Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football package, or Sunday Ticket’s out-of-market inventory.
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Check local availability before subscribing. CBS streaming rights were market-specific, and a Paramount+ plan should not be treated as a promise of every CBS NFL game in every location.
Best for Sunday Night Football: Peacock
Peacock was the natural streaming companion to NBC’s Sunday Night Football package. It gave viewers a way to stream the Sunday-night game through an app when they lacked access to an NBC affiliate or preferred to watch through a streaming service.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minutePeacock made sense for an NFL fan whose main appointment viewing was Sunday Night Football. It was not a complete NFL solution: a Peacock subscription alone did not cover the Sunday afternoon CBS and FOX slate, Monday Night Football on ESPN, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, or the entire postseason schedule.
Pricing and special-game treatment were season-specific, so current Peacock prices should not be copied into a historical 2022 comparison. The important distinction is the rights window: Peacock supplied NBC’s Sunday-night stream, not the entire NFL calendar.
Best for Monday Night Football: ESPN through a participating TV provider
Monday Night Football was distributed through ESPN, with streaming access through the ESPN app and ESPN.com using credentials from a participating television provider. In practice, that meant a live-TV bundle carrying ESPN or another eligible provider login—not automatically an ESPN+ subscription.
ESPN+ was therefore not the general replacement for ESPN’s Monday Night Football channel feed during the 2022 season. Anyone choosing a service specifically for Monday nights needed to confirm that the service included ESPN and that its account credentials could authenticate in the ESPN app or on ESPN.com.
Best for every out-of-market Sunday afternoon game: NFL Sunday Ticket
For a fan following a team that was not shown locally, the decisive 2022 product was NFL Sunday Ticket. During the 2022 season, Sunday Ticket remained the U.S. out-of-market package distributed through DIRECTV.
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The package focused on regular-season Sunday afternoon games unavailable on the viewer’s local broadcast stations. It was designed for fans who wanted to follow a distant team week after week, but it did not replace local games or nationally televised games. Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, and Monday Night Football belonged to other rights packages, and Sunday Ticket was not intended to provide those exclusive windows.
Sunday Ticket was usually a poor value for a casual fan, a viewer whose favorite team was commonly shown by local broadcasters, or someone primarily interested in primetime games. It was much more relevant when the goal was to watch a team outside the local market every Sunday afternoon.
Pricing and eligibility varied by customer type, location, package, and promotions. Unofficial reported prices should not be treated as authoritative for every subscriber. The important historical fact is the distributor: on December 22, 2022, the NFL announced that YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels would receive exclusive U.S. consumer distribution rights beginning with the 2023 season. That announcement did not make YouTube the 2022 Sunday Ticket distributor.
How to choose the right 2022 setup
- List the games and windows you need. Separate local Sunday afternoon games from out-of-market Sunday afternoon games, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, preseason, and replays. These were not interchangeable rights packages.
- Check your ZIP code first. Confirm whether the live-TV service you are considering carried your local CBS, FOX, NBC, and ABC affiliates, as well as ESPN and any required NFL Network channel, in the applicable plan.
- Decide whether your team is local. If your favorite team was usually available on a local CBS or FOX broadcast, Sunday Ticket might add little value for those games. If the team was outside your market, evaluate Sunday Ticket before adding several smaller subscriptions.
- Add only the missing windows. Prime Video filled the 2022 Thursday night gap. Paramount+ could fill a local CBS gap, Peacock the NBC Sunday-night window, and an eligible TV-provider login the ESPN Monday-night window.
- Choose NFL+ for the right use case. It was well suited to mobile viewing, preseason, live audio, and replay access. It was not the answer to live out-of-market Sunday afternoon television.
- Verify device access and authentication. A service may require a supported app, a particular plan tier, a TV-provider login, or a mobile/tablet device for certain live rights.
What device do you need?
If your television does not already support the relevant apps, a streaming media player such as an Amazon Fire TV Stick can provide access to compatible live-TV and streaming applications. It does not provide NFL rights, a subscription, local-channel access, or Sunday Ticket by itself. You still need the correct service, plan, account, and—where required—TV-provider authentication.
Before buying hardware, check that the device supports the apps you plan to use and that your television, internet connection, and account credentials are ready. Switching devices cannot overcome a rights restriction, a missing local affiliate, or a plan that excludes the game.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Practical 2022 recommendations by viewer type
Casual fan
Start with an antenna or a live-TV service that supplies the local CBS, FOX, and NBC affiliates. Add Prime Video if Thursday Night Football matters. There was no reason to pay for Sunday Ticket unless you regularly needed out-of-market Sunday afternoon games.
Mobile-first fan
NFL+ was the most direct fit. The base tier covered mobile-oriented local and primetime live access, out-of-market preseason games, audio, and library content. Upgrade to NFL+ Premium if full-game replays, condensed games, or Coaches Film were important.
Out-of-market fan
Evaluate Sunday Ticket first. Then add Prime Video for Thursday nights and use the appropriate broadcast or authenticated streaming service for Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football. Do not assume that Sunday Ticket included every national game.
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Single-team fan
Compare the team’s local-market broadcast schedule with the Sunday Ticket coverage before paying for the full out-of-market package. A team shown locally on CBS or FOX often did not require Sunday Ticket for those games, although other national windows still came through their separate broadcasters.
Cord-cutter seeking nearly all major windows
Pair a live-TV bundle carrying CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN with Prime Video. Add Sunday Ticket only if you need out-of-market Sunday afternoon games. This was the broadest practical setup for many viewers, but even it should not be described as one inexpensive subscription that included every NFL game.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Calling NFL+ an all-games service: Its live rights, device rules, preseason access, audio, and replay features were useful but narrower than Sunday Ticket.
- Assuming Paramount+ included all Sunday games: It addressed the CBS portion where local availability and plan rules allowed it.
- Assuming Peacock included the whole NBC season plus every NFL window: Its role was Sunday Night Football streaming, not full-league coverage.
- Buying ESPN+ for ordinary Monday Night Football access: The general stream required ESPN access through a participating television provider.
- Confusing DIRECTV STREAM with Sunday Ticket: The streaming brand and the 2022 DIRECTV-distributed Sunday Ticket package were separate matters.
- Calling YouTube TV the 2022 Sunday Ticket provider: The NFL’s YouTube announcement applied beginning with the 2023 season, after the 2022 season had ended.
- Assuming a streaming device creates access: Hardware helps run apps; it does not change broadcast rights or subscription requirements.
Bottom line
The best NFL streaming setup of 2022 depended on the viewer. NFL+ was the best value for mobile, preseason, audio, and replay-focused fans. Prime Video was the clear choice for Thursday Night Football. Paramount+ and Peacock were targeted supplements for CBS and NBC coverage, while Monday Night Football generally required ESPN through an eligible TV provider. For the broadest local and national coverage, a ZIP-code-verified live-TV bundle plus Prime Video was the most practical cord-cutting combination. For every out-of-market Sunday afternoon game, the answer was the 2022 DIRECTV version of NFL Sunday Ticket—not NFL+, YouTube TV, or any single ordinary streaming subscription.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Did NFL+ stream every NFL game in 2022?
No. NFL+ included live local and primetime games on mobile and tablet devices, out-of-market preseason games across supported devices, live audio, and library content. NFL+ Premium added replays and Coaches Film. It did not provide live out-of-market Sunday afternoon regular-season games as a television replacement for Sunday Ticket.
Could one service stream every NFL game during the 2022 season?
No. Rights were split among CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN/ABC, NFL Network, Prime Video, NFL+, and Sunday Ticket. The broadest practical setup was a suitable live-TV bundle plus Prime Video, with Sunday Ticket added for out-of-market Sunday afternoons.
Was YouTube TV the 2022 NFL Sunday Ticket provider?
No. Sunday Ticket remained distributed through DIRECTV during the 2022 season. The NFL announced on December 22, 2022, that YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels would receive the U.S. consumer distribution rights beginning with the 2023 season.
Was ESPN+ enough to watch Monday Night Football in 2022?
Not generally. Monday Night Football streaming was available through the ESPN app and ESPN.com using credentials from a participating television provider. Viewers should have chosen a live-TV service carrying ESPN or another eligible provider rather than assuming ESPN+ alone replaced the ESPN channel feed.
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For 2022, start with your game window—not the brand name. Use NFL+ for mobile and replay needs, Prime Video for Thursday nights, a ZIP-code-verified live-TV bundle for local and national network games, and DIRECTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market Sunday afternoons.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
