Football Is Back: Here’s How You Can Watch Games on Peacock
Latifah Muhammad
Are you ready for some football? The 2021 NFL season is officially back and sports fans who might not have a TV or a cable subscription can stream games online through a bunch of different budget-friendly platforms.
For starters, every Sunday Night Football game for this season will air on NBC and stream simultaneously on Peacock, including Super Bowl LVI, which is slated to take place on February 13, 2022. Other games on the schedule include the face-off between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens on September 19, the Greenbay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers on September 26, and a Thanksgiving game between the Buffalo Bills and New Orleans Saints on Thursday, November 25.
To stream football games on Peacock, you’ll need to be subscribed to Peacock Premium ($4.99 a month for ad-supported streaming) or Peacock Premium Plus at $9.99 a month to stream without ads. Peacock Premium gives you access to a massive library of TV series and movies, in addition to daily news, reality TV, kids’ shows, sports games (including Premier League), and other live events, alongside Peacock Originals, and next-day access to a multitude of NBC shows. The ad-free Peacock Premium Plus plan gets you everything in the Premium plan, but you also get the option to download content and watch offline.
Not ready to commit just yet? Join Peacock for free before upgrading to the Premium or Premium Plus plans. The free plan lets you binge-watch thousands of hours of movies and TV series, sports talk shows, news, cooking shows, ’90s TV shows, Spanish-language series, and tons more.
From dramas to sci-fi to the harsh reality of true crime documentaries, Peacock has enough content for the whole family. You’ll also find a huge list of beloved dramas and sitcoms such as “The Office,” “Modern Family,” “Manifest,” “Dr. Death,” “Yellowstone,” “Chicago PD,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Downton Abbey.”
If late-night talk shows are more your speed, Peacock offers up a great lineup of NBC talk shows and Peacock Originals like Kevin Hart’s viral hit “Hart to Hart,” along with “The Amber Ruffin Show,” “Late Night with Seth Myers,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and classic episodes of “The Johnny Carson Show.”
Peacock is also home to college football games, tennis, soccer, rugby, cycling, lacrosse, WWE wrestling, and IndyCar races.
As for the NFL games: Another easy and affordable way to watch them is by starting a free trial for Hulu+ Live TV, Fubo TV, Sling TV, or YouTube TV, all of which carry the NFL RedZone and NFL Network. DirecTV offers NFL packages too, as does Cox, Xfinity, Verizon Fios, and Dish.
Hardcore sports junkies might also want to sign up for NFL Game Pass where you get to replay every game all season long for $99.99 a year, after a free seven-day trial. It’s nice to have options, right? For more info on streaming platforms, read our roundup of how to go about getting a free trial to Disney+, and our comprehensive breakdown of streaming platforms that you can join for free.
