🟡 Thursday Night Football
Amazon Prime Video · 8:15 PM ET
Amazon holds exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football through 2033. 15 games per season aired exclusively on Prime Video, with one game on broadcast in Week 1. Typically features divisional matchups and top-25 teams.
🔵 Sunday Night Football
NBC · 8:20 PM ET
The most-watched primetime show in American television for 13 consecutive years. NBC's "Flex scheduling" rule allows the network to move any game to Sunday night through Week 12 of the season to ensure the best matchups are in primetime.
🔴 Monday Night Football
ESPN / ABC · 8:15 PM ET
Monday Night Football has been on ESPN since 2006. A second Monday Night Football game in the early window (7 PM ET) has been added in recent seasons. High-profile matchups are simulcast on ABC for maximum reach.
🟣 Sunday Afternoon (FOX)
FOX · 1 PM & 4:25 PM ET
FOX holds NFC game rights on Sunday afternoons. The late game (4:25 PM ET) typically features the highest-profile NFC matchup of the week. FOX also airs Super Bowl LXI in February 2027.
🟢 Sunday Afternoon (CBS)
CBS · 1 PM & 4:25 PM ET
CBS holds AFC game rights on Sunday afternoons. As the AFC has become the NFL's glamour conference (Chiefs, Ravens, Bengals, Bills), CBS's late game is often the marquee matchup of the week.
🔵 NFL+ / Peacock
Streaming · Various times
NFL+ offers mobile streaming of local games. Peacock (NBC) holds streaming rights to select exclusive games including one Wild Card playoff game. The NFL's streaming presence is expanding with every new rights deal.
NFL Season Structure: How 17 Games Work
Since 2021, the NFL plays a 17-game regular season, up from 16 games. The extra game was added as part of the 2020 CBA, with the corresponding reduction in preseason from 4 to 3 games. Each team plays its divisional opponents twice (6 games), one full division from each conference (8 games), and additional cross-conference matchups to reach 17 total.
Bye weeks occur between Weeks 5 and 14. Every team gets one bye. Coaches jealously protect bye week placement — a team with a Week 7 bye before a tough stretch plays a very different game than one that rests in Week 13 before the final push. Fantasy managers must track byes obsessively because starting a player on a bye is the most preventable mistake in fantasy football.
International Games
The NFL now plays games in London, Germany, and Brazil each season. International games count as home games for one team — the visiting team's fans must travel internationally to see their "home" game. Jaguars fans, notably, travel to London almost every year as Jacksonville has a near-permanent slot at Wembley Stadium.