American Football is finally back for another season and for 2023 there are more ways to stream NFL live and on-demand than ever before.
After a busy off-season which saw a 3rd overall draft pick, Trey Lance, dramatically traded from the 49ers to the Cowboys for just one draft pick, and Nick Bosa made the highest-paid defensive player in history (yes, I’m a 9ers fan), it’s time to settle down for plenty of NFL action. 32 teams split into two conferences will once again go helmet-to-helmet in a battle to reach the Super Bowl.
If you’re in the UK then you arguably have a better deal for watching America’s biggest sport on TV and online, despite caveats like blackouts on the official streaming service (more on that later).
US viewers 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 and are one of the favourites to get there again but so are plenty of other top teams including the Bills, Eagles, 49ers and others. There could be a surprise like the Jets now led by Aaron Rodgers, Jared Goff’s Lions, or even the unofficial UK team, the Jaguars.
But however it goes, and to quote Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora, “The NFL never disappoints”.
When does the NFL 2023 season begin?
This season the NFL starts on 7 September with the reigning champs, the Chiefs, playing the Detroit Lions.
However, note that the time difference between the US and UK means it’s technically 8 September in Blighty.
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.
The service starts at $6.99 per month and you can take advantage of a 7-day free trial.
Another option you have without the need for cable, which many people don’t realise, is NFL RedZone which provides round-the-league highlights as they happen on Sundays. This is separate from NFL+ and is part of the main NFL app on iPhone or Android.
For 2023 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.
Which NFL games are on UK TV?
We’ll explain how to watch the NFL in the UK via various providers below. But first, let’s take a look at which games will be shown on UK TV, between Sky and Channel 5.
We’ll update this each week so you know what’s being shown live.
Note that because some games happen around 1am in the UK, it means the date is technically the following day in Blighty. So, for example, American Thursday night games are actually in the early hours of Friday, which is how we list them below:
Week 2
Fri 15 Sep
- Minnesota Vikings @ Philadelphia Eagles – 1:15am – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event
Sun 17 Sep
- Kansas City Chiefs @ Jacksonville Jaguars – 6pm – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event
- New York Jets @ Dallas Cowboys – 9:25pm – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event
Mon 18 Sep
- Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots – 1:20am – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event
Tue 19 Sep
- New Orleans Saints @ Carolina Panthers – 12:15am – Sky Sports Arena/Mix
- Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers – 1:15am – Sky Sports NFL/Main Event, Channel 5
2023 NFL International Games
As usual there are a selection of NFL games that take place in countries other than the USA. here’s the schedule for the European games taking place in London and Germany
- October 1 – Atlanta Falcons vs Jacksonville Jaguars- Wembley Stadium
- October 8 – Jacksonville Jaguars vs Buffalo Bills – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- October 15 – Baltimore Ravens vs Tennessee Titans – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
- November 5 – Miami Dolphins vs Kansas City Chiefs – Frankfurt Stadium
- November 12 – Indianapolis Colts vs New England Patriots – Frankfurt Stadium
Watch NFL on Sky Sports
As you might have guessed already, Sky is the main place to watch NFL on 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 Showcase.
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. There will be over 100 games shown on Sky Sports this 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 (New York Jets)
Sky Sports
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 £11.98 for a Sports Day (24 hours) and includes 12-months of Sports Mobile access which you’ll get within 10 days of signing up. You might be better off getting the Month Pass if you plan to watch lots of games. It’s £34.99 per month and includes a 7-day free trial of Now Boost.
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.
Live stream on NFL Game Pass on 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.
The big news this year is that it’s hosted by DAZN, a global sports streaming service so you can delete the old Game Pass app but still log into DAZN with the same account. Note that it’s only restricted in USA and China so it’s not just a UK service.
Largely things are the same and after some confusion, the platform has confirmed to Tech Advisor that it will be showing US adverts during games.
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. You can see a full list of devices here.
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 £151 for the season or you can pay in four equal installments of £37.75.
This option gets you regular season and postseason games as well as the Super Bowl, live RedZone and loads more:
- NFL Draft rounds 1-7 live
- 2022 season highlights and full game replays
- 2023 NFL Scouting Combine
- 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 25 November)
- All Playoff games
- Super Bowl
- Any postseason games
![NFL Game Pass on DAZN](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/nfl-game-pass-international-dazn.jpg?quality=50&strip=all)
DAZN
Watch NFL on Channel 5
Anyone who’s been following 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 had continued to show regular sesaon 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 second year of a three-year contract, you will get to see some NFL on ITV, although not much. If you’re not watching via ariel 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.
![The NFL Show ITV](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/The-NFL-Show-ITV.jpg?quality=50&strip=all)
ITV
Watch NFL in the UK 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. 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 as we said above, you may 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.