The television rights to broadcastNational Football League (NFL) games in the United States are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any sport in the world. Television broughtprofessional football into prominence in the modern era afterWorld War II. Since then, National Football League broadcasts have become among the most-watched programs on American television, and the financial fortunes of entire networks have rested on owning NFL broadcasting rights.^{[citation needed]} This has raised questions about the impartiality of the networks' coverage of games and whether they can criticize the NFL without fear of losing the rights and their income.

Since the 1960s, all regular season and playoff games broadcast in the United States have been aired by national television networks. Since 1998, regionally shown regular season games on Sunday afternoons have been televised onCBS andFox, which primarily carry games ofAFC andNFC teams respectively (the conference of the away team generally determines the broadcaster of an inter-conference game). Nationally televised regular season games on Sunday and Monday nights have aired onNBC andESPN, respectively, since 2006.ABC has also aired selected ESPN-produced regular season games since 2020. In addition, a "flexible scheduling" policy allows the league to reschedule select Sunday afternoon and Sunday night games to different time slots and/or reassign them to different networks regardless of conference in the second half of the season. Since the 2023 season, select Monday night and Thursday Night games are now also subject to flexible scheduling. During the postseason, ESPN/ABC airs two or three games, NBC airs two–four games, while CBS and Fox air the rest of the AFC and NFC games, respectively. TheSuper Bowl is currently rotated annually among CBS, Fox, NBC, and ABC/ESPN.

With games airing on CBS, NBC, Fox, and ESPN/ABC, the NFL thus holds broadcast contracts with four companies (Paramount Global,NBCUniversal,Fox Corporation, andThe Walt Disney Company (majority ownership, withHearst Communications owning the remaining ownership ofESPN Inc.) that control a combinedvast majority of the country's television product. These four broadcasters paid a combined total of US$110 billion to air games from 2023 to 2033.^[1][2][3] They previously paid a combined total of $39.6 billion to air games between 2014 and 2022.^[4][5]

NFL preseason telecasts are more in line with the other major sports leagues' regular-season telecasts: preseason telecasts are more locally produced, usually by alocal affiliate of one of the aboveterrestrial television networks. Some preseason games will air nationally, however. Under the NFL's anti-siphoning rules for cable games, these stations usually will air simulcasts of ESPN and/or NFL Network games in their local markets if the local team is playing.

The NFLregular season begins in the second weekend in September (the weekend afterLabor Day in the United States) and ends in mid-January. Each team plays 17 games during an 18-week period. Typically, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon. The Sunday afternoon games are televised regionally, where the particular game available on local television will depend on where the viewer is located, and begin at either 1:00 p.m., 4:05 p.m., or 4:25 p.m.Eastern Time. In addition, there are usually single nationally televised games each on Thursday night, Sunday night, and Monday night (most weeks). Theseprimetime games are broadcast across the country over one national over-the-air broadcast, cable network (or one broadcast and one cable network for MNF Split DH), or streaming service, where there are no regional restrictions, nor any other competing NFL contest.

Allplayoff games, theSuper Bowl and thePro Bowl are held on either Saturday, Sunday or Monday in January and February, and either in the afternoon or in primetime. These are also treated like primetime regular season games, televised across the country over a national network or streaming service with no regional restrictions or any other competing NFL game.

Scheduling during theNFL preseason is more lenient in that most games usually start based on local time. Thus, games on the West Coast are usually played after 7:00 p.m.Pacific Time (10:00 p.m. Eastern Time). However, the handful of primetime, nationally televised preseason games are still played at approximately 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

The television rights to the NFL are the most expensive rights of not only any American sport, but any American entertainment property. With the fragmentation of audiences due to the increased specialization of broadcast and cable TV networks, sports remain one of the few entertainment properties that not only can guarantee a large and diversified audience, but one that will watch live broadcasts.

TheSuper Bowl often ranks among the most watched shows of the year. Four ofNielsen Media Research's top 10 programs of all time are Super Bowls.^[14] Networks have purchased a share of the broadcasting rights to the NFL as a means of raising the entire network's profile.^[15]

The NFL distributes television revenue (as well as all revenue from League sponsorship and licensing deals, and 34% of all gate receipts)^[16] to all teams equally, regardless of performance. As of February 2019^[update] each team receives $255 million annually from the league's television contracts, up 150% from $99.9 million in 2010.^[17] Under the current television contracts, which began during the 2022 season, regular season games are broadcast on seven networks:Prime Video,CBS,Fox,NBC,ESPN/ABC and theNFL Network. As of July 2023 national media revenue made up around 67% of the league's total football-related revenue according to Forbes.^[18]

Since the2012 NFL season, the major networks have invested more inaudio description due to FCC guidelines ramping up the requirements of opening up thesecond audio program audio channel to access audio description, which is also used by some networks to provideSpanish language audio of their primetime programming. Therefore, all of the NFL's broadcasting partners have added Spanish language audio commentary of games, either through a separate channel or over the SAP channel.

ESPN simulcastsMonday Night Football with Spanish-language commentary and graphics overESPN Deportes and has since the move ofMNF to ESPN in 2006, though its ABC simulcasts of games do carry the ESPN Deportes commentary over SAP on ABC. In 2017 and 2018, the Spanish-language coverage was also simulcast onESPN2 during the first two months of the season.^[19][20][21] In the 2020-21 playoffs and every playoffs since, ESPN Deportes also aired an AFC Divisional Playoff game and the AFC Championship Game.^[22]

NBC's sister Spanish-language cable network mun2 (which rebranded asUniverso in 2015) began to simulcast select Sunday Night Football games in the 2014 season as part of the new television contract, while its Spanish-language counterpartTelemundo Deportes provides the branding for NBC's SAP Spanish commentary.

Fox's Spanish-language sports networkFox Deportes began broadcasting select Fox games, including the playoffs and Super Bowl XLVIII in Spanish during the 2013 season.Super Bowl LI for Fox featured Spanish audio exclusive to Fox Deportes, without a SAP component over-the-air.

CBS, which lacked any Spanish language outlets prior to the 2019 remerger (Trés is legally part of the family, but is a cable channel), still uses solely SAP for its Spanish simulcasts. It relied on ESPN Deportes to simulcastSuper Bowl 50,LIII andLV in Spanish, though it still carried Spanish SAP audio on the CBS broadcast of the game.

NFL finished new contract negotiations for its media rights deals for $110 billion over 11 years on March 18, 2021. In the new contracts, ABC will be eligible to air the Super Bowl for the first time sinceSuper Bowl XL in 2006.^[23] Starting 2022,Amazon will be the new home forThursday Night Football. Amazon is now the first and only streaming service to own full rights over a package of NFL games.^[24]

The new 2021 contract also includes the agreement forESPN+ to stream one exclusive national game each year starting with the2022 NFL season.^[25] Starting in 2023 NFL Season, ESPN/ABC will broadcast a wild-card game and a divisional playoff game, flexible scheduling will also be added toMonday Night Football for Week 12 and beyond.^{[26][27][28][29][30][31]}

These current deals have an opt-out clause after the 2029 season, with the exception for ESPN/ABC's contract, whose opt-out clause is after the 2030 season.^[32]

Since 1970, the regional Sunday games (1 p.m. "early" and 4:05/4:25 p.m. "late" games Eastern time) have been split intoAFC andNFC "packages." Each package is held by a single network: CBS has held the AFC package since 1998, and Fox has held the NFC package since 1994. These packages include Sunday afternoon games during each week of the regular season, a single game for each network onThanksgiving, wild card playoff games, divisional playoff games, and the respective conference championship game for each network.

In1970, when theNFL and AFL merged, and homeblackouts were put into place for AFC games (some AFL teams had lifted these during its run; as an example, mostNew York Jets' home games in 1968 and 1969 were telecast onWNBC-TV New York); this assured that all Sunday afternoon road games would be seen on the same network.

The Sunday games are classified as "A", "B", or "C" games. "A" games are usually the primary game for each network (1:00 ET for Eastern and Central time zone or 4:05 ET for Mountain and Pacific time zone games in a single-game week), and if the network has a doubleheader, is typically the 4:25 ET game. "B" games are typically the primary 1:00 ET game when the network has a doubleheader, or the secondary game if the network has a single game. "C" games are only shown in the playing teams' markets, and in some cases, markets where the game may be of interest to a local audience (due to playoff implications, rivalries, or a locally popular player/coach).

Market size and team success plays a huge factor in determining the level of games.^[33][34] For example,Green Bay has a city population of 105,000, one of the smallest for a city with a sports team. But the Packers usually have the "A" or "B" game because of their long history and almost unparalleled success. (The team is actually two markets for the NFL policy;Milwaukee is the other primary market for the team. The team before1995 played selected games in Milwaukee, including an NFL Championship Game held in the infield of theMilwaukee Mile.)^[35] TheDallas Cowboys (due to that team'snational popularity regardless of on-the-field play)^[36][37][38] and a team or player that has had recent success (such as theNew England Patriots during that team's success whenBill Belichick was the Head Coach, then theTampa Bay Buccaneers followingTom Brady's departure from New England in 2020)^[39][40] or more recently theKansas City Chiefs during that team's success underPatrick Mahomes,Travis Kelce, and head coachAndy Reid since 2021)^{[41][42][43][44]} have typically been shown in the national doubleheader timeslot for ratings purposes, despite affiliate requests to show a team that may have more appeal locally; these games are typically decided by the NFL and CBS or Fox, depending on who has the doubleheader that week.^[45][46][47]

For interconference games, the visiting team generally determines which network is assigned for the game: an AFC team at NFC team game is typically assigned to CBS, and an NFC at AFC game is generally given to Fox. This allows both Fox and CBS affiliates in a team's primary market to carry games from the team during the season.

After a Broncos-Vikings game was moved to Fox in 2011 because of Fox having a lack of games as a result of an NFL flexible scheduling policy (see below), the NFL permanently instituted a "cross-flex" policy in 2014, allowing Fox games to be moved to CBS and CBS games moved to Fox.

On occasion, both of a team's home interconference games are played in prime time, depriving the opposite conference's network of any games involving the team. This happened in1978 to theLos Angeles Rams,1990 to theIndianapolis Colts,1992 to theHouston Oilers,1993 to both theBuffalo Bills andSan Diego Chargers,1997 and2003 to theMiamiDolphins,1999 to theNew England Patriots,2005 to theBaltimore Ravens,2013 to theAtlanta Falcons,2015 to theArizona Cardinals,2021 to theNew Orleans Saints and2024 to theHouston Texans,Pittsburgh Steelers andKansas City Chiefs. In the 1997 Dolphins' case, their home game against theChicago Bears had been initially slated for Fox, but was moved to Monday night due to Game 7 of theWorld Series that was played on Sunday night. In the 2015 Cardinals' case, their home game against theCincinnati Bengals had been initially slated for CBS, but was moved to Sunday night on NBC via flexible scheduling which marks the first time since 1997 that a team's home interconference game was moved to primetime after their other interconference game was already scheduled for primetime.

The2016Arizona Cardinals,2018Detroit Lions,2019New Orleans Saints and2020New York Giants, all NFC teams, also had both their home interconference games in prime time, but aired at least once on CBS regardless: the Cardinals appeared onThursday Night Football in Week 5 at theSan Francisco 49ers, the Lions appeared in their traditional Thanksgiving Day game against theChicago Bears, the Saints had their games against theArizona Cardinals and theCarolina Panthers crossflexed from Fox, and the Giants had their games against theChicago Bears andDallas Cowboys crossflexed from Fox.

TheSeattle Seahawks did not appear on NBC in their inaugural season of1976, nor did theTampa Bay Buccaneers in1977, despite neither playing a single prime time game. In 1976, Seattle played in theNFC West and played their sole interconference game at Tampa Bay (thus on CBS), whereas, in 1977, the teams swapped conferences, so Tampa Bay played in theNFC Central and played their sole interconference game at Seattle (thus on CBS). Seattle would later return to the NFC West in2002.

In addition to the above, a few teams prior to the 2002 realignment had their sole home interconference game played in prime time. From 1978–2001, this happened in1982 to theDetroit Lions,Buffalo Bills andHouston Oilers,1987 to theMiami Dolphins andDallas Cowboys,1991 to theMinnesota Vikings and2001 to theJacksonville Jaguars. Additionally, the1972 Miami Dolphins, the only NFL team to complete a perfect season, did not appear on CBS; their lone interconference home game vs. theSt. Louis Cardinals was broadcast onMonday Night Football, andSuper Bowl VII was broadcast by NBC.

In addition, the team's home stadium would not make an appearance on either CBS or Fox due to interconference home games being crossflexed, this happened in2016 to theOakland Raiders,2018 to theTampa Bay Buccaneers,2019 to both theLos Angeles Rams andLos Angeles Chargers,2020 to theSan Francisco 49ers,2021 to theTennessee Titans,2023 to theLos Angeles Chargers and2024 to theSan Francisco 49ers andBuffalo Bills. Both interconference and intraconference games may be cross-flexed to protect both networks.

Three games (with some contractual exceptions, see below) are broadcast in any one market each Sunday morning/afternoon, with one network being allocated a "doubleheader" each week:^[48]

• A 1:00 p.m.ET (10:00 a.m.PT) "early" game and a 4:25 p.m. ET (1:25 p.m. PT) "late" game

While the other network broadcastseither:

• A 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT) game, or
• A 4:05 p.m. ET (1:05 p.m. PT) game

Since 1998, early games have the precise, official start time of 1:01 p.m. ET,^[49] which allows for one network commercial and the NFL broadcast copyright teaser animation. However, game times are generally advertised simply as 1 p.m. starts. In addition, the league revised the late games to start at 4:05 p.m. ET if it was the only game televised by the network that week and to begin at 4:15 p.m. ET (moved to 4:25 p.m. ET in2012) if it was part of a doubleheader. The additional 20 (10 prior to 2012) minutes for doubleheaders allowed the early games extra time to be shown to completion, and avoid continuing past the late game's scheduled kickoff. For single games, the start of 5 minutes past the hour allows the network time for a short introduction (as three hours had passed since thepre-game show has aired) and one commercial break before kickoff. In those cases, there is no need to avoid early-game overlap as there is no early game shown. In addition, it allows those games to end earlier. This is especially important for CBS, which wants to air60 Minutes at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT, or as close to that time as possible, in Eastern and Central time markets which receive only a single late game.

Sunday afternoon games in theMountain andPacific time zones are always scheduled for 2:05 or 2:25 p.m. Mountain Time and 1:05 or 1:25 p.m. Pacific Time. No games before 12:00 p.m. MT (2 p.m. ET) are ever scheduled, partly to avoid conflict with religious services in those cities; Denver had three noon MT kickoffs atMile High Stadium late in the1972 season, but the experiment was never repeated.

Beginning with the introduction of the 17-game season, Fox and CBS each have eight doubleheader weeks during the season between weeks 2 and 17 with both networks having the doubleheader for weeks 1 and 18 (in 2024 those weeks have changed to weeks 15 and 18).^[50][51][48] These are not necessarily alternating weeks; one network may have two or rarely three or four consecutive doubleheaders; this only occurs when one network has doubleheader weeks 2 and 3 after both networks had the doubleheader in week 1, in weeks 16 and 17, and then both networks have doubleheaders week 18 or in the 2024 case a single network having it in weeks 15–18 (with both networks having it in weeks 15 and 18); has happened to Fox 2019 and CBS in 2018.^[52]

Fox requests to carry a doubleheader on a Sunday it airs a Championship Series or a World Series game if a Sunday game is being played (typically Game 2, 5 or 7 for the World Series and Game 1 for the championship series) and uses the featured 4:25 game as a lead-in for thebaseball playoffs (though in1996,2001,2005,2014,2019 and2020 and all years since2022 (due to no Sunday World Series game due to the expansion of the MLB Postseason) Fox did not have a doubleheader on the day it broadcast of the World Series). Since 2022, Fox instead requests that Game 1 of its respective league championship series would air in this post NFL slot.^[53]

During weeks 1 and 18, both networks are given doubleheaders; this has been the case since 2021 for week 1 and 2006 for the final week of the regular season.^[54] From 1990 through 2005, one network received nine doubleheaders during the 17-week season, and the other network received eight (except 1993, when CBS and NBC each received nine in an 18-week regular season).

Doubleheader allotments were often assigned with restrictions because of other network commitments. This happened during Finals Sunday of theU.S. Open tennis championships (September) (CBS, week 1 1976, '82, '85–'87, '89–'90, '99 and again 2001–2014; week 2 1979–81, '83–'84, '88, '91–93, '98, '00), or Major League Baseball playoffs in October (NBC, typically during League Championship Series from 1976 to 1989, and again in 1996 and 1997, World Series 1978 to 1984, when Sunday games were afternoon games, CBS, League Championship Series, 1990 to 1993 and Fox, League Division Series 2001 and League Championship Series from 2002 to 2006 and again in 2012). During these weeks, the restricted conference's teams in theMountain andPacific time zones could not play at home during the weekend in question, unless they either hosted an interconference game or were scheduled in prime time (regardless of opponent). The rule was effectively eliminated by the new cross-flex rule in 2014, meaning the NFL could apply the new rule and assign games that would be on the restricted network to the other network. In1991 (Charleston, South Carolina market) and1995 (Rochester, New York market), NBC did not allow their games to be played in the early slot (1:00 p.m. ET) in order to cover the final day of matches in golf'sRyder Cup (no restrictions in 1993 because the matches would end before 5:30 p.m. local time, or 12:30 p.m. ET).

Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the league had to accommodate similar broadcasting conflicts whentwo men's major golf championships were postponed to the fall. The league gave Fox one late game in Week 2,Washington Football Team atArizona Cardinals, to allow viewers to see the conclusion of theU.S. Open onFox Sports 1 September 20.^[55] Rights to the golf tournament were later transferred to NBC, whose single primetime window for football rendered the point moot.^[56] Similarly with the final round ofThe Masters rescheduled for November 15, CBS was not given any early games in Week 10.^[57]

NFL Sunday Ticket is a subscription-based package that allowsout of market regional games to be watched in full. Due to contractual reasons, national and in-market games are unavailable on the service. Sunday Ticket is also typically subject to the same blackout rules as local broadcasts.^[58][59] Starting with the2023 NFL regular season,YouTube TV andYouTube Primetime Channels, will offer NFL Sunday Ticket.^[60] It will be exclusive to YouTube in the US and available on streaming devices,mobile apps, smart TVs, as well as most web browsers.^[61][62][63] Satellite broadcast companyDirecTV previously offered Sunday Ticket from the inception of the product in 1994 until the end of the2022 regular season.^[64][65]

In Canada, NFL Sunday Ticket is available via the streaming serviceDAZN and traditional cable and satellite providers.^[66][67]

A similar service is generally available on NFL GamePass (distributed byDAZN since 2023) outside of the US, China and Canada. Blackout and other restrictions vary on an individual country basis due to network exclusivities.^[68][69]

NFL RedZone is a premium network featuring whip-around coverage of regular season Sunday afternoon games in progress. The channel prides itself on showing "every touchdown from every game" using simulcasts from the relevant CBS and FOX feeds. It is available on manycable,streaming, andsatellite providers in the United States, as well as several international services.^[70][71]

Regular season Sunday afternoon games aired on CBS and Fox are distributed to affiliates by means of regional coverage. Each individual game is only broadcast to selected media markets.^[48] The NFL imposes several television and blackout policies to maximize ratings and optimize stadium attendances.

Several factors determine which games are carried in each market. Each of the 32 NFL teams is assigned a "primarymarket" which is themetropolitan area where the club is located. Most teams also have a selected number of secondary markets. Secondary markets - which are almost exclusively non-NFL cities and towns - can be of any size, and are typically defined by an area where any part of the market falls within 75 miles of an NFL stadium. Small markets that have no clubs tend to strongly associate with geographically nearby or particularly relevant teams, but may fall outside of a 100-mile radius, are not necessarily an officially designated secondary markets by the NFL. Generally, games are aired in the primary and secondary markets as follows:

• All away games are aired in the primary and secondary markets. This is a gesture to old policies based on the ability for fans to attend games. Away games were looked upon as too difficult to travel to and attend.
• All sold-out home games are aired in the primary market. Through the 2014 season but not since, games that did not sell out at least 72 hours prior to kickoff were subject to local blackout in the primary and all secondary markets. (see below)

The NFL rules have traditionally prohibited other NFL games from being shown on local television stations while a local team is playing a sold out, locally televised home game. Under these rules, when the home team is being shown on the network with the NFL single game, the doubleheader station can only air one of its games.^[48] When this happens, there are only two games shown in the market. However, when the home team is being shown on the network with the NFL doubleheader, all three games can still air in the same market.^[72]

The rule was designed to encourage ticket-holders to show up at the stadium instead of watching another game on television. However, each network was guaranteed to have at least one game broadcast in every market, so some exceptions are granted to this rule, typically when one of the two Sunday game networks has a 1:00 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. live non-NFL event, such as golf, tennis, baseball, or drag racing.

Since 2014, this rule has not applied in the last week of the season when both CBS and Fox have the doubleheader, so all markets receive four games that week. In 2019, this rule was loosened as a one-year test, allowing each market to air three games in some weeks regardless if the local team is playing at home.^[73][74]

Prior to the 2000 season, doubleheader rules were much more restrictive. Pre-2000, only one game from each network could be aired in a market where a home game was played, even if the home game was on the doubleheader network. Therefore, markets with two teams (such as New York) rarely got more than two games, since odds were that one of the two teams would be at home on any given Sunday.^[75] Consequently, the Jets or Giants were often scheduled on Saturday in the final two weeks of the season to free up Sunday for the other New York team.

During the afternoon games, CBS and Fox may switch a market's game to a more competitive one mid-game, particularly when a game becomes one-sided. For this to occur, one team must be ahead by at least 18 points in the second half.^[48]

Due to the controversial 1968 "Heidi Game" incident on NBC, a primary media market must show its local team's game in its entirety and secondary markets usually follow suit for away games. Also, for home games secondary markets or any others where one team's popularity stands out may request a constant feed of that game, and in that case will not be switched.^[48]

If the local team is scheduled for the late game of a doubleheader, it has importance over any early game.^[48] If 4:25 p.m. arrives, and the early game has not concluded, the primary affiliate (home and road games) and secondary affiliates (road games only) are required to cut off the early game and switch to the start of the local team's game. Additional affiliates, including secondary affiliates for home games, may also request to pull out of an early game for a nearby team's late start. This is common in Texas, where many affiliates which are not considered secondary markets by the NFL still switch out of early games in order to get to the start of a 4:25 p.m.Dallas Cowboys game.

When a local team plays the early game of a doubleheader, that game holds importance over any late game. If the local team's early game runs beyond 4:25 p.m., the primary and secondary markets stay with it until completion. In those cases, the late game is simply joined in-progress.

For this reason, if two teams share a primary media market, their games are never scheduled on the same network on the same day (unless they play each other). Otherwise, the networks could theoretically have to cut away from one team's game to show the other. Since2020, two pairs of teams are affected by this rule, and are subject to additional rules described below:

• TheNew York Giants andNew York Jets
• TheLos Angeles Rams andLos Angeles Chargers

TheLos Angeles Chargers andLos Angeles Rams gained shared-market status after the Rams returned toLos Angeles (fromSt. Louis) in 2016, followed by the Chargers (fromSan Diego) in 2017. After playing in separate stadiums from 2017 to 2019, they began sharingSoFi Stadium in 2020.

• Every season, the Chargers and the Rams play at least 22 combined games which cannot be scheduled in the Sunday early time slot because they and most of their respectiveAFC West andNFC West rivals are in the Pacific and Mountain time zones: nine home games for one team and eight home games for the other; the Chargers' away games atDenver andLas Vegas; and the Rams' away games atArizona,San Francisco, andSeattle.
• During seasons in which theAFC West andNFC West play each other, this count increases to 24 or 25 total games. In addition to the games listed above, the Chargers will have two interconference away games in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones and the Rams will have one or two such games (depending on whether their game againstKansas City, located in the Central Time Zone, is away). However, one of these games is a head-to-head matchup between the two teams.
• During seasons in which the 17th game features an AFC West team at an NFC West team, this count increases to 23 games unless the Chargers and Rams play head-to-head in this game.
• The Rams' two interconference home games (with a visitingAFC team) are televised byCBS, and the Chargers' interconference home games (with a visitingNFC team) are onFox, unless they are scheduled in prime time or are cross-flexed. This also limits the broadcast opportunities for the other team's game.
• When the Chargers and the Rams played in separate stadiums from 2017 to 2019, there were several times that both teams played late games on Sunday (including Week 2 of 2017 when both were at home), each of different networks. Whenever this happened, the must-show rule trumped the exclusivity rule, resulting in both games being shown in the Los Angeles area at the same time. Although both teams now shareSoFi Stadium, they can still play late games at the same time on Sunday, only that one of them can be at home. On weeks both teams play home games, the other game is played either on Thursday or Monday night.

For the 2017 season, the NFL arranged four weeks in which one network would carry both the Rams and Chargers in separate time slots while the other had the rights to a doubleheader, thus giving the Los Angeles market four games in those weeks. Fox split its coverage between its two Los Angeles stations,KTTV andMyNetworkTV affiliateKCOP-TV.^[76] Likewise, CBS split betweenKCBS-TV and sister stationKCAL-TV. These instances required cross-flexing of one NFC game (the Rams hosted theSeattle Seahawks in Week 5 on CBS) and one AFC game (the Chargers hosted theBuffalo Bills on Fox in Week 11).

TheNew York Giants andNew York Jets began sharing the New York City market after the Jets began play in 1960. Both teams played atGiants Stadium from 1984 to 2009 andMetLife Stadium since 2010.

Originally, the league almost never scheduled the Giants and the Jets to play their games at the same time. The league first allowed exceptions during the2009 season due to unusual scheduling logistics. These exceptions marked the first times since the1984 season that the Giants and Jets played games simultaneously.^[77] In the 2017 season, the teams were scheduled for the same time slot five times.

• The aforementioned Chargers and Rams' late time slot requirement does not exist for the Giants and Jets. Since allNFC East andAFC East teams are either in the Eastern or Central time zones, most of their games can be played in either the early 1:00 p.m. or the late 4:05 p.m./4:25 p.m. time slots.
• However, it is still impossible for both New York teams to play home games on the same day, because they share MetLife Stadium. Therefore, the other same conflicts still exists.
  • As an example aversion, in2016, the Jets hosted theSeattle Seahawks and theLos Angeles Rams. The former game was scheduled during the same week in which the Giants played theMinnesota Vikings onMonday Night Football, while the latter game was scheduled during the same week in which the Giants played theCincinnati Bengals onMonday Night Football. Conversely, the Giants' other interconference home game, vs. theBaltimore Ravens, was scheduled during the same week in which the Jets played onMonday Night Football.

Week 14 of the 2021 season initially had one instance where Fox held the rights to both the Jets and Giants games despite CBS having the doubleheader (the Jets host New Orleans at 1:00 p.m., while the Giants play at the Los Angeles Chargers for a 4:05 p.m. contest).^[78] In such an instance, Fox would likely have split coverage between its New York properties,WNYW andWWOR-TV. However, the NFL later crossflexed the Saints-Jets game to CBS.^[79]

Although in close proximity, theWashington Commanders andBaltimore Ravens are served by separate media markets, and so they can play at the same time and even on the same network. If both teams play at the same time on opposite networks with at least one at home, both games have aired in each market on a few occasions. Because Washington D.C. is an official secondary market for the Ravens but Baltimore is not an official secondary market for the Commanders, most cases involve a Ravens away game being aired in Washington opposite a Commanders home game.

In 2016, the same rule applied in Los Angeles, as Los Angeles was a primary market for the Rams and a secondary market for the Chargers (as the team was still playing in San Diego). However, no Chargers away games were scheduled opposite Rams home games.

When the Rams and Raiders shared the Los Angeles market from 1982 to 1994, the NFL was more lenient on its shared media markets policies, frequently scheduling home games for both teams at the same time. For example, during Week 17 of the 1994 season, their last respective home games in Los Angeles, both the Washington Redskins at Rams game and the Kansas City Chiefs at Raiders game were played at 1 p.m. PT. Likewise, the late Sunday afternoon games during Week 11 of the 1993 season included both the Kansas City Chiefs at the Raiders and the Atlanta Falcons at the Rams. Both the Rams and Raiders usually had trouble selling out their respective stadiums during their time in Los Angeles, thus their home games were frequently blacked out anyway.

When the 49ers and Raiders shared the Bay Area market from 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019, originally the teams were typically not scheduled at the same time. To alleviate conflicts, both teams were scheduled for at least one prime time game, regardless of their records during the previous season.^[80]

In2010, with the Broncos–49ers game being played inLondon, England during Week 8 of that season, the game occurred in the early time slot, something that would have been prohibited had the game been played in San Francisco. This allowed the Raiders to host the Seahawks on that day, marking the first time the 49ers played on CBS and the Raiders played on Fox on the same day, though the Raiders game was blacked out locally.

Starting in 2012, there were a number of times that the Raiders and 49ers both played late games on Sunday, often during Week 17. Whenever this happened, the must-show rule trumped the exclusivity rule, resulting in both games being shown in the Bay Area at the same time.

After the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020, the schedule continues to be made so that the 49ers and Raiders are never scheduled to play at the same time on the same network so that all Raiders games can continue to air in the Bay Area market.^[81] With the Bay Area no longer being a shared market, it is now possible for one team to play the early game followed by the other team playing the late game on the doubleheader network.

When a media market's regionally televised game ends before the others, the network (CBS or Fox) may switch to "bonus coverage" of the ending of another game. However, the league imposes two restrictions that are designed to maximize the ratings of the late games on the doubleheader network, which tend to record the most NFL viewers during the day, often beating the audience for Sunday night games (these rules were changed in 2019, along with the singleheader rule, in an effort to keep viewers watching for longer periods of time.).

First, bonus coverage offered after any early time slot games cannot be shown past the start of the late time slot (either 4:20 ET for the doubleheader network or 4:25 ET for the single game network). This prevents people from continuing to watch the bonus coverage instead of seeing the beginning of the late doubleheader network's game (which is usually either their local team or the network's featured game). Networks may show highlights of the game and usually will at the earliest opportunity. The network broadcasting the single game will sometimes show each play as soon as it ends as part of its post-game show. A station originally getting the game featured during bonus coverage will stay with it unless it is leaving to show a local team. In the local markets of the second doubleheader game, networks sometimes split screen the local game to show critical portions of the first doubleheader game (with FOX airing it under "Double Coverage" on-air).

Second, bonus coverage cannot be shown after a late game on the single-game network because it will run in opposition to the ending of the late doubleheader network's game (the late doubleheader network is allowed to air bonus coverage since it's aired in every market) andFootball Night in America. However, the single-game network usually schedules most of its top games in the early 1:00 ET time slot (except for west coast teams' home games, and possibly either a Giants or Jets game), and most weeks only one late single game are scheduled so this does not tend to be a major issue.

If the doubleheader network's games all finish before 7:30 ET, it is supposed to conclude the post-game show within 10 minutes to protectFNIA. If any games finish after 7:30, the post-game program can run until 8 ET. However, this restriction seems to apply to game footage only; on several occasions Fox has run its post-game offering to 8:00, despite all games ending before 7:30, by airing only panel discussions and interviews in the latter portion of the show. On the other hand, CBS rarely airs any post-game show after its doubleheaders or 4:05 single-games. This is because60 Minutes is one of its signature shows, and CBS makes every effort to start it as close to 7 or 7:30 — its traditional airtime — as possible.

National broadcasts of marquee matches occur on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights. NBC has broadcast rights to the opening nightkickoff game and to the Sunday night games. These are televised under a special "flexible schedule" that allows Sunday afternoon games to be moved to prime-time beginning with Week 5 of the season.

NBC has broadcast the marquee "game of the week" nationally since 2006. Before 2006, the "game of the week" was considered to beMonday Night Football on ABC. However, ESPNpreviously aired games on Sunday nights from 1987 to 2005, and TNTaired games from 1990 to 1997.

Since 2012, a Thursday night game went into effect during every week of the season with the exception of the final week. Each game is aired on the NFL Network (prior to 2021) orAmazon Prime Video (2022 and on), with the exceptions of the Week 1NFL Kickoff and Thanksgiving Day games, which are aired on NBC. The season-kickoff game for the 2012 season was moved up a day — to a Wednesday, in order to avoid conflict withPresidentBarack Obama's speech at theDemocratic National Convention. Since the NFL tries to avoid scheduling Thursday night games during the season which would require the visiting team to travel more than one time zone (excluding the Week 1 Kickoff),^[82] the five teams in thePacific Time Zone — theLas Vegas Raiders,Los Angeles Chargers,Los Angeles Rams,San Francisco 49ers andSeattle Seahawks — would have more limited scheduling options in years that theAFC West andNFC West divisions don't face each other in interconference play. There have been some notable exceptions: theKansas City Chiefs, who are based in theCentral Time Zone, have played both the Chargers and Raiders on Thursdays; the Rams, who were based inSt. Louis until2015, played against the 49ers in2013. SinceTNF started in 2012, theDallas Cowboys of the Central Time Zone have occasionally hosted clubs from the Pacific Time Zone on Thanksgiving Day: Dallas hosted theOakland Raiders in2013, theLos Angeles Chargers in2017, and hosted the Las Vegas Raiders in2021. The Detroit Lions, of the Eastern Time Zone, have not hosted a Mountain or Pacific Time Zone team during this time. Each year since 2014, the Thursday Night game the week after Thanksgiving has featured two teams that played on Thanksgiving, effectively giving both teams a full week of practice rather than the short week that most teams have for a Thursday Night game.

In 2014, CBS had simulcast Thursday night games between Weeks 2–8 and televised one of two Saturday games in Week 16,^[83] and each Thursday night game was an intra-division game, except for thePackers–Seahawks Week 1 NBC kickoff and the Cowboys–Bears game in Week 14. The two Saturday games in Week 16 —Eagles–Redskins and Chargers–49ers — aired beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET. The 4:30 p.m. ET game was televised by the NFL Network, while the other began shortly after 8:00 p.m. ET, and aired on CBS.

Between 1970 and 1977, and again since 2003, there has been no Monday night game during the last week of the season. From 1978 until 2002, a season-ending Monday night game was scheduled. The 2003 revision permits the NFL to have all eight teams involved in the Wild Card playoffs to have equal time in preparation, instead of the possibility of one or two teams having a shorter preparation for their playoff game if they were picked to play on Saturday, instead of Sunday. This scenario, in which a team finishing its season on Monday night had a playoff game the following Saturday, never occurred.

Between2006 and2020, ESPN has opened the season with aMonday Night Football doubleheader, with a 7:00 p.m. game and a 10:30 p.m. both shown in their entirety nationwide. ESPN2 or ESPNEWS (only in 2012 because ESPN2 was airing an MLB game) started the second game if the game on ESPN was not over by the time the second game had started. However, in Week 1 of the2018 season, the conclusion of the first game of the doubleheader, Jets–Lions, moved to ESPN2 in order to show the beginning of the Rams–Raiders game on ESPN.

Since2020, select Monday Night Football games have been simulcast onABC,ESPN2, andESPN+. While the ABC broadcast is a simulcast of the main ESPN feed, the ESPN2 and ESPN+ feeds have also featured alternate telecasts. The 2020 alternate telecast was hosted byRece Davis andKirk Herbstreit, while the current version, started in 2021, is hosted byEli Manning andPeyton Manning and nicknamed the “Manningcast.”

The NFL has ananti-siphoning regulation, where all games televised on cable or streaming are blacked out in each of the primary markets of both teams, and instead air viabroadcast syndication to anover-the-air station. This rule is to maximize television ratings, as well as to protect the NFL's ability to sell television rights collectively. The anti-siphoning rule does not apply to secondary markets. For example,Miami Dolphins games do not air on local stations inWest Palm Beach. The only exception is theGreen Bay Packers which has two primary markets,Green Bay andMilwaukee, a remnant of when they played some home games in Milwaukee each season.

Typically, the team'sflagship station for thepreseason games will hold such rights, as teams will usually sell the preseason, local non-broadcast television games as one package. This station does not need to have affiliate connections with a national broadcaster of NFL games.

For ESPN games, owned-and-operated stations ofABC andHearst Television (even those Hearst stations not affiliated with ABC, and including theirone independent station in theTampa-St. Petersburg market) have first right of refusal, due to both ESPN and ABC's common ownership byThe Walt Disney Company (Hearst holds a 20% stake in ESPN). In the past (until 2021), the ABC O&Os have passed on airing the game, opting instead to air the network's Monday night schedule which includes the successfulDancing with the Stars.^[84]

Under the agreement for the 2014 season between CBS and theNFL Network forThursday Night Football simulcasts during the first half of the season, CBS affiliates in the primary markets in question have the primary option to carry local games. If the CBS affiliate opts out of the deal, the NFL will offer the package by syndication, typically with the Monday Night package.^[85] The CBS/NFL Network deal was extended for the 2015 season on January 18, 2015.^[86]

For the 2016 season, two midseasonTNF games were NFL Network-exclusive but produced by NBC; the NBC affiliates in those markets with teams competing had the primary option to carry those games in-market. With the 2018 move of the package to Fox, the two NFL Network-exclusive games produced by Fox actually varied between NBC and CBS affiliates, rather than being exclusive to the Fox stations in each market. Starting in 2022, theAmazon Prime Video subscription service will hold the rights to broadcastTNF and because of this, the NFL will continue to require these games to be syndicated to the team's local markets.^[87]

In other markets, stations who are the affiliates ofMyNetworkTV orThe CW (and, in at least one case, an independent station^[88]) have out bid more established local broadcasters in some markets. However, the home team's market must be completely served by the station (as opposed to alow-power station). Withincreasing consolidation of local broadcasters in the United States, larger station ownership groups (particularlyNexstar Media Group) have increasingly cornered the market for these simulcasts.

On November 8, 1987, the very first NFL game ever aired on ESPN was played between theNew England Patriots andNew York Giants. Technically, the game was only simulcast in the Boston market, with a separate broadcast produced for the New York market by ESPN sister propertyWABC-TV – at the time, WABC's union contract prohibited non-union workers (like those of ESPN) from working on live events broadcast on the station. This marked the only time since the AFL–NFL merger that a regular season game was locally produced for TV. The WABC broadcast featured WABC's ownCorey McPherrin doing play-by-play, andFrank Gifford andLynn Swann fromMonday Night Football doing color commentary (Gifford and Swann did not have to travel further for their Monday Night game, which was Seahawks at Jets.).

Under theSports Broadcasting Act of 1961, for the NFL to retain its antitrust exemption, professional games are not permitted to air on any television station within a 75-mile radius of anyhigh school orcollege game from 6pm on Friday to midnight on Saturday evening until the second weekend of December; effectively, this prevents the NFL from scheduling any games on those days.

Since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, the NFL has taken an informal approach to scheduling games on Saturdays after the end of the college football season, with the scheduling policy changing many times. From 1970 to 2005, both of the Sunday afternoon broadcast networks (CBS and NBC from 1970 to 1993, Fox and NBC from 1994 to 1997, and Fox and CBS from 1998 to 2005) were given at least two Saturday afternoon national broadcasts in December, withESPN also airing one or two Saturday game in primetime from 1998 to 2005.

In 2006, the schedule was cut to three Saturday games, which aired in primetime and were televised on theNFL Network in December. In 2008, this was changed to only one Saturday game, still aired in primetime on the NFL Network, which was the policy through 2011. For the 2012 season, ESPN aired the lone Saturday game in primetime. No Saturday game was scheduled in 2013, the first and only time since the 1970 merger that the NFL did not play any regular season games on Saturday.

In 2014, the NFL returned to Saturdays with a Week 16 doubleheader, with the Saturday afternoon game airing on the NFL Network and a Saturday night game airing onCBS. CBS Sports produced coverage for both games. In 2015, this schedule was modified again to one Saturday night game during both Week 15 and Week 16, these games were cable-only and produced by CBS. In 2016, Christmas fell on a Sunday, so the regional slate of week 16 games aired on Saturday afternoon, with a national game also airing that night, along with a national week 15 Saturday game the previous week, with CBS andFox producing the regional games and NBC producing the national games for cable.

Since 2018, NFL Network has exclusively aired three or four late-season Saturday games per season. When the schedule is released, five Sunday afternoon games in each of these weeks will be eligible to be moved to Saturday afternoon or evening. The games moving to Saturday are typically announced no later than four weeks prior to game day. Beginning in 2021,ESPN and ABC currently air a Saturday doubleheader during Week 18 featuring games with playoff implications.

The2023 season will feature eight Saturday regular season games (three in Weeks 15, two in Week 16, one in Week 17, and two in Week 18) making it the most Saturday games played in a season since 1970 (excluding years in which Christmas falls on Sunday, and thus the great majority of that week's games are moved to Saturday afternoon).

Several notable games have taken place on Saturdays, including theNew England Patriots' historic comeback from a 22–3 deficit in the fourth quarter against theNew York Giants in 1996, a game the same season between thePhiladelphia Eagles and theNew York Jets in which the Eagles won in dramatic fashion over the 1-13 Jets to keep their playoff hopes alive (they would eventually qualify), the final game atThree Rivers Stadium featuring thePittsburgh Steelers andWashington Redskins in 2000, another Patriots-Giantsmatchup in 2007 which saw the Patriots complete a 16–0 season and was simulcast on three networks, the last-ever match atTexas Stadium won by theBaltimore Ravens over theDallas Cowboys in 2008,^[89] a 2012 game between theDetroit Lions and theAtlanta Falcons in whichCalvin Johnson of the Lions set the NFL record for receiving yards in one season, a 2015 game betweenthe Eagles and the Redskins to decide theNFC East champion, and a 2022 game between theTitans and Jaguars to decide theAFC South champion.

Since the2006 season, the NFL has used a "flexible scheduling" system for the last seven weeks of the regular season. This is because by week 11, there are a number of teams that have been eliminated or nearly eliminated from playoff contention. Flex-scheduling ensures that all Sunday night games and, on the doubleheader network, the late game that is designated as the national game (airs in the majority of markets nationally), have playoff significance, regardless of whether or not both teams are competing for a playoff spot. Two examples of this type of flexing involved theCarolina Panthers in2008 and2009. In the first instance, thePanthers andNew York Giants saw a late season game flexed due to the winner of that matchup clinching home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs as the top seed. The next season, an out-of-contentionPanthers team hosted the 11–2Minnesota Vikings, who had a chance to improve their playoff positioning and take the top seed in the NFC playoffs; hence, this game was flexed despite Carolina's 5–8 record. Sometimes, games will be flexed due to a team's success; for instance, the 2007 matchup between theNew England Patriots andBuffalo Bills atRalph Wilson Stadium was flexed due to the Patriots' potential run at an undefeated regular season that they eventually completed.

This system also allows teams that enjoy unexpected success to acquire a prime time spot that was not on their original schedule. Thanksgiving games and all games airing on cable channels (Monday, Thursday, and Saturday games) are fixed in place and cannot be changed to Sunday night, as are games during Christmas weekend whenever Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, as it was in 2011 (most games are played on Christmas Eve Saturday instead). It also increases the potential for teams to play on consecutive Sunday nights, as the2007 Patriots,2007 Redskins, the2008 Giants, the2012 49ers, the2013 Broncos,2015 Cardinals, the2016 Cowboys, the2018 Chiefs, the2018 Vikings, the2018 Rams, and the2022 Chargers did (the Patriots hosted thePhiladelphia Eagles the week following the second matchup with the Bills as scheduled, the Redskins were flexed into a matchup with theGiants and played theVikings in a regularly scheduled matchup the week after, and the Giants hosted the Panthers one week after playing theDallas Cowboys inTexas Stadium. The 49ers played theSeahawks in Seattle one week after playing at thePatriots. The Broncos were flexed into a matchup with the Chiefs and then playing on the road against the Patriots. The Vikings were flexed into a matchup with the Bears then hosted the Packers the next week. The Rams were flexed into a matchup also with the Bears then hosted the Eagles the next week.)

Under the system, Sunday games in the affected weeks in theEastern andCentral time zones will tentatively have the start time of 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 am PT). Those played in theMountain orPacific time zones will have the tentative start time of 4:05/4:25 p.m. ET (1:05/1:25 p.m. PT). Also, there will be two games provisionally scheduled for the 8:20 p.m. for Sundays (8:15 p.m. for Mondays) ET slot. On the Tuesday twelve days before the games (possibly sooner for later weeks), the league will move one or two game to the prime time slots (or keep its original choices), and possibly move one or more 1:00 p.m. slotted games to the 4:00 p.m. slot.

Since 2023, Fox and CBS each may protect 17 Sunday afternoon games, one per week, during weeks 11–17 and NBC selects which game they want to air. For example, in 2011, NBC wanted a late season game between theDenver Broncos andNew England Patriots which featuredTim Tebow as the Broncos quarterback. CBS protected the game and NBC got a game featuring theSan Diego Chargers instead. Networks have the option of waiving protection to allow for a Sunday night airing, as happened with a game between the unbeatenKansas City Chiefs and one-lossDenver Broncos in Week 11 of the 2013 season. The contest was protected by CBS, which would have to air it in the regional 4:05 p.m. timeslot because the game was in Denver and the network did not have doubleheader rights that week. CBS thus allowed NBC to pick up the telecast for a nationwide broadcast.^[90]

Neither CBS or Fox can protect games in week 18. In years when Christmas falls on Sunday (like in 2022) or on Monday (like in 2023), the NFL schedules its main slate of afternoon games on Christmas Eve (which would fall on Saturday or Sunday) without a prime time game (in both years there was a primetime game but neither one of the games were not eligible to be flexed), as NBC's game would be moved to Christmas night (see below). Thus, Sunday Night game flexible scheduling can not occur in week 16; NBC is then given flexible scheduling in week 10 instead. However, the other two types of flexible scheduling changes—moving a game from early to late, or changing networks—is still possible during such weeks. The NFL went around the flexible scheduling procedure prohibition in the 2016 NFL season where Christmas falls on a Sunday by scheduling two Sunday games at 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET, respectively.

During the last week of the season, the league could reschedule games as late as six days before the contests so that as many of the television networks as possible will be able to broadcast a game that has major playoff implications, and so that several division races or Wild Card spots are on the line at the same time. The week 18 games on Saturday afternoon, Saturday night and Sunday night is decided exclusively by the NFL; networks cannot protect or choose during the final week. For this final Sunday Night contest, the league prefers to flex-in a matchup in which at least one team must win in order to qualify for the playoffs, regardless of what happens in the other week 18 games.^[91] Since 2010 when the NFL began scheduling only divisional matchups in the final week, it is possible an intradivisional game that appeared on national TV previously could be selected again. The NFL will only select such a game if there is no other suitable option. This example happened in the2011 season concerning matchups between theDallas Cowboys andNew York Giants. In week 14, both teams played a game with major playoff implications that could have all but eliminated the Giants from playoff contention with a loss. Instead, that game marked the start of a four-game winning streak to end the season which included a game where the Giants eliminated theEagles from playoff contention (despite a win over the Cowboys) with a win over theNew York Jets. This win flexed the following week's matchup, where the Giants hosted the Cowboys, into NBC's slot, which determined the NFC East champion.^[92]

Individual teams may make no more than four appearances on NBC'sSunday Night Football package during the season. Only three teams may make as many as six prime time appearances (Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night, and Saturday night combined).^[93] The remaining teams may make a maximum of five prime time appearances. In addition, there are no restrictions amongst intra-division games being "flexed."

In the2014 NFL season, a related policy known as "cross-flexing" became available, where games can now be swapped between CBS and Fox, regardless of conference, in order to improve balance between the two networks, and expand the distribution of noteworthy games.^[94][95] A notable example occurred in the final week of the season, where a game between theAtlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers playing in Atlanta to clinch theNFC South division (which was tentatively scheduled for Fox with a 1 p.m. kickoff) was cross-flexed to CBS and moved to a 4:25 p.m. kickoff, in order to give the network a late-afternoon game with serious playoff implications (since Fox was also, by virtue of its package, to air a game betweenDetroit and Green Bay that would determine theNFC North champion and a first-round bye, and theAFC North title game betweenCincinnati and Pittsburgh had been flexed toSunday Night Football).^[96][97][98]

In the 2020 offseason, the NFL queried its teams on the possibility of expanding flexible scheduling toMonday Night Football. No consensus was achieved on whether or not such an expansion would be viable, as travel and lodging reservations are set in advance and would require visiting teams to book hotels for an extra day because of the uncertainty such a flex option would entail, as would syndication issues under the league's local syndication policies. Flexible scheduling would not take effect untilMonday Night Football's next contract begins in 2022.^[99]

In 2020, because of numerous pandemic-related issues that led to CBS losing a 1 PM (Pittsburgh vs Tennessee) and a 4:25 PM (New England at Kansas City) game during Week 4, the NFL used the flexible schedule rule to move Indianapolis at Chicago from 1 PM to 4:25 PM.^[100]

As of the2024 NFL season the following policy is used for flex scheduling:^[101]

• Sunday afternoon games may be moved freely between the 1 p.m. ET "early" and 4:05 p.m./4:25 p.m. "late" ET timeslots. The only exception being that games that take place in the Mountain or Pacific time zones must always be in the "late" slot.
• Only Sunday afternoon or TBD-listed games may be flexed toSunday Night Football,Monday Night Football, orThursday Night Football.
• ForSNF, a game can be flexed twice during Weeks 5–10, and at the NFL's discretion during Weeks 11–17.
  • For Weeks 5–13, the decision to flex must be made at least 12 days in advance.
  • For Weeks 14–17, the decision to flex must be made at least 6 days in advance.
• ForMNF, a game may be flexed at the NFL's discretion during Weeks 12–17. The decision to flex the game must be made at least 12 days in advance.
• ForTNF, a maximum of two games may be flexed during Weeks 13–17. The decision to flex a game must be made 28 days in advance in order for the stadiam, local authorities, and broadcasters to coordinate the schedule change.
• When aSNF,MNF, orTNF game is flexed, the game originally scheduled for that primetime slot is moved to one of the Sunday afternoon timeslots.
• For Week 18, there are no Thursday night or Monday night games held. The matchups for Week 18 are listed, but start times are tentatively withheld. Scheduling of the Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and Sunday night games for week 18 are announced following the conclusion of Week 17. This allows the NFL to schedule games with playoff implications in consequential order.

Thanksgiving Day contests have been held since before the league's inception. TheDetroit Lions have hosted a game every Thanksgiving since 1934 (with the exception of 1939–1944 due to the "Franksgiving" confusion and World War II), and they have been nationally televised since 1953. The firstcolor television broadcast of an NFL regular season game was the 1965 Thanksgiving contest between the Lions andBaltimore Colts. In 1966, the NFL introduced an annual game hosted by theDallas Cowboys, which has been played every year except in 1975 and 1977 when theSt. Louis Cardinals hosted a match instead. However, fans both inside and outside St. Louis did not respond well to an NFL fixture on Thanksgiving, and thus Dallas resumed hosting the game in 1978.

When the AFL began holding annual Thanksgiving Day games, the league chose a different model, circulating the game among several cities. During the 1967–69 seasons, two Thanksgiving AFL games were televised each year.

After the 1970 merger, the NFL decided to keep only the traditional Detroit and Dallas games. Due to the broadcast contracts in place since 1970, three NFC teams play on Thanksgiving, as opposed to only one AFC outfit. During even years, the Lions play their Thanksgiving game against an AFC team, and thus are televised by the network holding the AFC package (NBC and later CBS since 1998); the Cowboys host an NFC team and are shown by the network with the NFC package (CBS and later Fox since 1994). During odd years, Dallas hosts an AFC team and Detroit plays an NFC opponent (usually another NFC North team, and often the Green Bay Packers, who draw high television ratings). Every decade or so, this even-odd rotation was reversed, Detroit hosting an NFC team in even years and an AFC team in odd years, Dallas hosting an AFC team in even years and an NFC team in odd years. Detroit is always the early broadcast and Dallas the mid-afternoon broadcast.

Following the introduction ofThursday Night Football in 2006, a third Thanksgiving game was added, a primetime game hosted by one of the remaining 30 NFL teams each year. While the first game featured two AFC teams, conference affiliation has varied since. Starting in 2012, the prime time Thanksgiving game has aired on NBC. In the future, the NFL may use flexible scheduling to allow the Lions or Cowboys to host a prime-time game, provided anEastern time zone team is given the early (12:30 p.m.) slot.

Starting in 2014, changes to the NFL television contract allow either traditional Thanksgiving game to prime time (and NBC) and schedule an AFC game in either window to accommodate CBS, while Fox would get the other traditional game with Dallas or Detroit; to date, this has never happened. Cross-flexing also liberated CBS and Fox from their usual conference affiliation on Thursdays; thus Dallas and Detroit both hosted NFC opponents in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018 (in 2014, 2015, and 2018, the prime time game also featured two NFC franchises, so the AFC was completely shut out of the holiday those years). Fox has yet to broadcast an AFC team on Thanksgiving.

In recent years, the NFL has generally scheduled games on Christmas only if it falls on a day normally used for games (Saturday, Sunday, Monday). If Christmas falls on a Sunday, most of the games are to be played on the preceding day, Saturday, December 24, with three games scheduled for Christmas Night to be broadcast nationally (which most recently happened in2022).

The first NFL games played on December 25 came during the1971 season. The first two games of the Divisional Playoff Round that year were held on Christmas Day. The first game that day was betweenDallas Cowboys and theMinnesota Vikings. The second of the two contests played that day, theMiami Dolphins versus theKansas City Chiefs, ended up beingthe longest game in NFL history.^[102] The league received numerous complaints due to the length of this game, reportedly because it caused havoc with Christmas dinners around the nation. As a result, the NFL decided to not schedule any Christmas Day matches for the next 17 seasons.

In 1976 and 1977, the last two years before the advent of the 16-game schedule and expanded playoffs, the NFL came up with different approaches to avoid Christmas play. In 1976, when Christmas fell on a Saturday, the league moved the start of the regular season up one week to Sunday, September 12. The divisional playoffs were held on the weekend of December 18 and 19, leaving the conference championship games on Sunday, December 26.Super Bowl XI was played on January 9, 1977, the earliest it has ever been held. In 1977, with Christmas on Sunday, the NFL split the divisional playoffs, and for the only time since the AFL–NFL merger, each conference held both divisional playoff games the same day (AFC Saturday, December 24 and NFC Monday, December 26), ostensibly not to give one team a two-day rest advantage over the other for the conference championship games. Since two of the venues were in the Western United States, it was not possible to have regional coverage in both time slots on either day.

The NFL continued to avoid Christmas even after it started to increase the regular season and the playoffs. The league expanded to a 16-game regular season and a 10-team playoff tournament in 1978, but it was not until 1982 that the regular season ended after Christmas, due to the players' strike. In 1989, the NFL tried another Christmas Day game, with theCincinnati Bengals hosted by theMinnesota Vikings, but it was a 9:00 p.m. ETMonday Night Football contest, thereby not conflicting with family dinners. In the years since, the NFL has played an occasional late-afternoon or night game on the holiday but there has not been a Christmas Day game starting earlier than 1:00 p.m. ET since 2022.

There have also been several games played on Christmas Eve over the years, including anOakland Raiders–Baltimore Colts playoff contest in 1977 which culminated in a play known as "Ghost to the Post". These games have typically been played during the afternoon out of deference to the holiday.

The broadcasting contract to begin in 2022 will allow Fox to air games on Christmas Day if the schedule allows for it.^[103] However, the 2022 season is the only season when Christmas falls on a Sunday during the entirety of the media rights deal, so all three Sunday networks will have a single game each. The 2023 season will see the two Sunday afternoon networks airing a single game, in addition to Monday Night Football.

Beginning in 2024, the NFL made Christmas Day a regular part of the league's schedule. Also that year, the league's Christmas games will be broadcastout of market onNetflix on a three-year deal. Under the terms of the 2022 contract,CBS Sports is contracted to produce Christmas Day games and broadcast them in the primary market affiliates of both teams.

The NFL has so far only staged games on New Year's Day when it falls on a Sunday. Historically when this occurs, the numerouscollege footballbowl games that traditionally play on New Year's Day then move to Monday, January 2.

In the 20th Century, New Year's Day fell during the postseason. The AFL played itsfirst league championship game on January 1, 1961. Thereafter, games were played on New Year's Day in 1967 (the 1966NFL andAFL Championship Games), in 1978 (the1977 NFC and AFC Championship Games), in 1984 (the1983 NFC and AFC Divisional Playoff Games), in 1989 (the1988 NFC and AFC Divisional Playoff Games), and in 1995 (the second half of the1994 NFC and AFC Wild Card Games).

The league's schedule during the 2000s and 2010s when resulted in New Year's Weekend consistently falling during the last week of the NFL's regular season (unless for when Christmas landing on Thursday which lands on the opening weekend of the postseason). The league's policy during that time was to play all of the games of the last week on one day to ensure an equal amount of rest heading into the playoffs. In 2006, 2012, and 2017 (the final weekend of the2005,2011, and2016 regular seasons), all 32 teams played on Sunday, January 1. In those years when January 1 fell on a Monday, all 32 teams played on New Year's Eve.

After the league expanded to a 17-game schedule in2021, New Year's Weekend has consistently fallen during the second-to-last week of the NFL's regular season (except for when Christmas lands on Thursday which falls on the last week of the season). In 2023, during the2022 regular season, the regular slate of Sunday games was scheduled on New Year's Day and aMonday Night Football game on January 2. For the following2023 regular season, the regular slate of Sunday games was still scheduled for New Year's Eve, but theMonday Night Football game was moved to Saturday, December 30 to defer to the New Year's Day college football bowl games.

• The NFL scheduledMonday Night Football games on Labor Day in the past, but has not done so since 2000, as it was determined that games during the Labor Day weekend were the lowest-rated of the season. Currently, Labor Day weekend serves as a league-wide bye week between the final preseason game and the start of the regular season.
• AMonday Night Football game is always scheduled onColumbus Day, a federal holiday not universally celebrated by all states.
• The NFL only plays onHalloween orVeterans Day if the holiday falls on a day in which football is normally played (Thursday, Sunday, or Monday).
• Since 2022, the NFL has scheduled oneMonday Night Football game during the Wild Card round of the playoffs^[104] mostly falling onMartin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Beginning in 2022, the NFL will schedule theSuper Bowl onValentines Day if it lands on Sunday.

Since1973, the NFL has maintained a blackout policy that states that a home game cannot be televised locally if it is not sold out 72 hours prior to its start time. Before that, NFL games were blacked out in the home team's market even if the game was a sellout. The NFL is the onlymajor professional sports league in North America that requires teams to sell out in order to broadcast a game on television locally, afterINDYCAR lifted the blackout of theIndianapolis 500 in the local market for the 2016 edition.

Before 1973, the lone exception to the blackout rule occurred in1970 when the Giants and Jets played atShea Stadium. The NFL allowed the game to be broadcast byWCBS-TV so Giants fans would not be denied an opportunity to see an away game on their local station (that same season,Raiders ownerAl Davis enforced the blackout of his team's regular season finale vs. the49ers, even though the NFL granted CBS affiliateKPIX permission to telecast the game in the Bay Area).

Furthermore, the NFL is the only network that imposes ananti-siphoning rule in all teams' local markets; The NFL sellssyndication rights of each team's Thursday and Monday night games to a local over-the-air station in each local market. The respective cable station must be blacked out when that team is playing the said game.

In the other leagues, nationally televised games are often blacked out on the national networks they are airing on in their local markets, but they can still be seen on their localregional sports network that normally has their local broadcasting rights.

This led to controversy in2007, when theNew England Patriots were scheduled to play theNew York Giants atGiants Stadium in theirregular season finale on the NFL Network, in what was to be a chance to complete the first 16–0 regular season in NFL history. After theSenate Judiciary Committee threatened the NFL'santitrust exemption if it did not make the game available nationwide, the NFL relented and made the game the first in league history to be simulcast on three networks. The game aired on the NFL Network, as planned; on NBC, which would normally have the rights to prime time games; and, since the away team was an AFC team, on CBS.^[105] (WCVB in Boston holds the rights to the NFL's syndicated package for Patriots games, causing this game to be available on 3 over-the-air stations in the Boston TV market). This however, did not lead to the NFL offering this package to other channels; the games have remained on the NFL Network, although cable coverage of NFL Network has increased in the intervening period.

Until September 2014, the NFL blackout rules were sanctioned by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC), which enforced rules requiringcable andsatellite providers to not distribute any sports telecast that had been blacked out by a broadcast television station within their market of service. On September 9, 2014,USA Today published an editorial from FCC chairmanTom Wheeler, who stated that "sports blackout rules are obsolete and have to go", and that he was submitting a proposal to "get rid of the FCC's blackout rules once and for all", to be voted on by the agency's members on September 30 of that year.^[106] On September 30, 2014, the Commission voted unanimously to repeal the FCC's blackout rules. However, the removal of these rules are, to an extent, purely symbolic; the NFL can still enforce its blackout policies on a contractual basis withtelevision networks, stations, and service providers, a process made feasible by the large amount of leverage the league exerts upon its media partners.^[107][108]

Ultimately, no games would be blacked out at all during the2014 season.^[109] On March 23, 2015, the NFL's owners voted to suspend the blackout rules for2015, meaning that all games will be televised in their home markets, regardless of ticket sales.^[109] The blackout rule has been suspended for every subsequent season through 2022.

However, the NFL'ssyndication exclusivity rule was still in effect through the 2019–20 season.

During each half of a network-televised game, there are nine prescribed commercial breaks following the official kickoff. Two are firmly scheduled, and seven others are worked in during breaks in the play.^[110]

Pre-scheduled commercial breaks:

• The end of the first (or third) quarter
• The two-minute warning of the second (or fourth) quarter

Other instances used for commercial breaks (seven total required per half):

• A timeout called by either team
• Instant replay stoppage
• Game stoppage after a score
• Game stoppage after a kickoff or punt (excluding the opening kickoff of each half)
• Game stoppage after a turnover
• Injury timeout

Two commercial breaks during the typical 12-minute halftime period are considered separate.

Networks are more apt to front-load their commercials in the first and third quarters, to prevent an overrun in the second and fourth quarters respectively. However, in the event that at least one early-window game is running long (after 4:25 p.m. ET) on the doubleheader network, the network will normally hold its commercials for the late window until all audiences have joined the late games, to ensure maximum coverage for its advertisers. In the rare event that the first quarter of a late game ends before all early games on that network have ended, the network may either take a break consisting entirely of network promos /PSAs, or not take a break at all during the between-quarters timeout, and those commercials are rescheduled for later in the game.

If a team calls a timeout and the network decides to use it for a commercial break, a representative from the broadcast crew stationed on the sidelines wearing orange sleeves makes a crossing motion with his hands to alert the officials. The referee declares it a "two-minute timeout."

Once a broadcast has fulfilled the seven "random" breaks, game stoppages are no longer needed for commercials. The orange sleeve will hold his hands down in a twirl motion to alert the officials. If a team calls a timeout, the referee will declare it a "30-second timeout."

Since the nine total commercial breaks for the second half are to be finished prior to the end of regulation, commercial breaks are rarely needed in overtime situations, apart from a break immediately after the end of regulation and a break at the two-minute warning, should the overtime period reach that point. Commercials for these purposes are sometimes pre-sold on an if-needed basis (such as the specializedAIG "overtime" ads often seen during the early 2000s).^[111] In many cases, overtime periods are conducted without any commercials. By definition, a game that has entered overtime is tied, and so the game is still undecided, thus increasing the appeal of the given game. This also allows the extended broadcast to finish in a timely manner. In cases of long overtime periods, networks have been known to have a commercial break during a lengthy injury time out and in the regular season the two-minute warning of the overtime period. During postseason play, the very rare instances of a second overtime will feature a commercial between periods. Overtimes in the postseason are treated as if a new game has started, meaning most of the regular season commercial break rules are followed.

Beginning in the2017 season, the ten breaks were reduced to nine per half. Networks are now required to have four breaks per quarter, along with the break after the first (or third) quarter, with each break extended by 30 seconds from 1:50 to 2:20. Also, commercial breaks are no longer permitted after kickoffs (except in the case of an extended stoppage in play after the kickoff, such as an injury), abolishing the quirk where a break occurs twice—once after a score, and then a second break on an ensuing kickoff. The break will only occur after the score.

The NFL, along withboxing andprofessional wrestling (before the latterpublicly became known as a staged sport), was a pioneer ofsports broadcasting during a time whenbaseball andcollege football were more popular than professional football. Due to the NFL understanding television at an earlier time, it was able to surpassMajor League Baseball in the 1960s as the most popular sport in the United States.

NBC Sunday Night Football became only the second regularlive prime time television program in U.S. history to emerge as the most watched overall U.S. television series, after ending Fox'sAmerican Idol's record of eight consecutive seasons on hold of the rank inthe 2011–12 season.^[112] The series holds this rank every season since, except in2013,2014 and2018 when CBS showsNCIS andThe Big Bang Theory, and ABC showRoseanne, respectively earned the title. As of 2025^[update],Super Bowl XLIX on NBC in 2015remains^{[citation needed]} the most watched telecast by average in U.S. history, attracting 115 million viewers for both halves of the game.^[113][114] Meanwhile,Super Bowl LI on Fox in 2017remains^{[citation needed]} the most watched telecast on peak conclusion in U.S. history, drawing 172 million viewers (more than half of the U.S. population of 340 million that same year) in the league's firstovertime period ever for a Super Bowl.^[115][116]

In November 2017, ratings for the first seven weeks declined by 5% compared to the same period in 2016; and decreased by 15% when compared to the same period in 2015, a strong season. Although ratings for the NFL have declined steadily after the Super Bowl in 2015, the latter remains the only program on U.S. television to have attracted at least 100 million viewers on a single night annually since the1983 series finale ofM*A*S*H on CBS.^[117][118] The NFL telecasts are known for their relative stability in their TV ratings in the United States since the beginning of the 21st century. Since2010, except2019 and2021, the annual Super Bowl telecasts (including thehalftime shows) have regularly attracted more than 100 million viewers in the United States alone, making it the only broadcast in U.S. television history to exceed the said annual viewership threshold for at least 10 years overall.^[119]

The style of pro football broadcasting has seen several changes since the 1990s, including female hosts and sideline reporters, visual first-down markers, advanced graphics, new multi-camera angles, and high definition telecasts. The most recent contract extensions have, for the first time, allowed the networks to broadcast games on the Internet.

Current English-language broadcasters:

• NBC
  • 1939,1955–1963: (NFL)
  • 1965–1969: (AFL)
  • 1970–1997: (AFC – Sundays, Thanksgiving, two Saturdays)
    • 1970–1983: All AFC playoff games, Super Bowl every two years
    • 1984–1989: All AFC playoff games, Super Bowl every three years
    • 1990–1997: Most AFC playoff games, Super Bowl every three years
  • 2006–2033:NBC Sunday Night Football,Kickoff game, (2006-2022 Super Bowl every three years, 2023-2033 Super Bowl every four years)
    • 2006–2013: Two wild-card playoff games
    • 2012–2033:Thanksgiving primetime game
    • 2014–2019;2024–2033: One wild-card playoff game, one divisional playoff game
    • 2016–2017: Several Thursdays, rare Saturdays [simulcast onNFL Network]
    • 2020–2023: Two wild-card playoff games, one divisional playoff game
• CBS
  • 1956–1969: (NFL – Sundays & several Mondays)
  • 1970–1993: (NFC – Sundays, Thanksgiving, two Saturdays)
    • 1970–1983: All NFC playoff games, Super Bowl every two years
    • 1984–1989: All NFC playoff games, Super Bowl every three years
    • 1990–1993: Most NFC playoff games, Super Bowl every three years
  • 1998–2005: (AFC – Sundays, Thanksgiving, two Saturdays, most AFC playoff games, Super Bowl every three years)
  • 2006–2013: (AFC – Sundays, Thanksgiving, most AFC playoff games, Super Bowl every three years)
  • 2014–2033: (NFL – Sundays, Thanksgiving, most AFC playoff games,) (2006-2022 Super Bowl every three years, 2023-2033 Super Bowl every four years)
  • 2020–2021, 2024: one additional wild card playoff game from either conference
    • 2014–2017: Several Thursdays, rare Saturdays [either conference, simulcast onNFL Network]
• Fox
  • 1994–2005: (NFC – Sundays, Thanksgiving, two Saturdays, most NFC playoff games, Super Bowl every three years)
  • 2006–2013: (NFC – Sundays, Thanksgiving, most NFC playoff games, Super Bowl every three years)
  • 2014–2033: (NFL – Sundays, Thanksgiving, most NFC playoff games,) (2006-2022 Super Bowl every three years, 2023-2033 Super Bowl every four years)
  • 2022: one additional wild card playoff game from either conference
    • 2018–2021: Several Thursdays, rare Saturdays [either conference, simulcast onNFL Network 2018-2022]
• ABC
  • 1948,1950,1953–1955: (NFL)
  • 1960–1964: (AFL)
  • 1970–2005;2022-2033:Monday Night Football
    • 1984–1989: Super Bowl every three years
    • 1990–2005: Two wild-card playoff games, Super Bowl every three years
    • 2003–2005:Kickoff game
  • 2015–2033: One wild-card playoff game
  • 2023–2033: One divisional playoff game
  • 2018–2033:Pro Bowl
  • 2023–2033: Super Bowl every four years
• ESPN
  • 1987–1997:ESPN Sunday Night NFL (second half of season)
  • 1998–2005:ESPN Sunday Night Football (entire season), one Thursday, one Saturday
    • 2002 only:Kickoff game
  • 2006–2033:Monday Night Football (select games simulcast onABC from 2020–present)
    • 2021–2023:Manningcast supplemental telecast
  • 2014: One wild-card playoff game
  • 2016-2017:Pro Bowl
  • 2018–2033: Simulcasts and/orMegacast supplemental coverage of any game carried by ABC
• NFL Network
  • 2006–2021:Thursday Night Football, at least one Saturday game (except 2011–2013)
  • 2006–2011 Thanksgiving primetime game
  • 2022–2033:NFL Network Exclusive Game Series (SelectInternational Series and late-season games)

Current Spanish-language broadcasters:

• Universo/Telemundo Deportes
  • 2014–2033: NBC simulcasts, including all playoff games
• Fox Deportes
  • 2014–2033: Fox Simulcasts, including all playoff games

    Select Fox simulcasts, including all playoff games and Thursday games broadcast on Fox

• ESPN Deportes (select simulcasts onESPN2 from 2017 to 2020)
  • 2006–2033: ESPN/ABC simulcasts, including ESPN's wild card game.
• TelevisaUnivision
  • 2023-2033: CBS Super Bowl simulcasts.^{[132][133][134]}

Current mobility partners:

• Verizon Wireless
  • 2014–2017: Exclusive carrier to view NFL telecasts on mobile devices with the rights costing $250 million per year.^[135]
  • 2018–2022: Expanded agreement to include streaming in-market NFL telecasts on any mobile carrier through one of its websites such asYahoo with the rights costing Verizon $500 million per year.^[136]
• YouTube TV/YouTube Primetime Channels
  • 2023-2029:NFL Sunday Ticket
• Amazon Prime Video/Twitch
  • 2017 only: 10 Thursday Night games, 1 Christmas game on Prime Video alone
  • 2018 and 2019: 11 Thursday Night games on Prime Video and Twitch
  • 2020-2021: 11 Thursday Night games, 1 Saturday Football game on Prime Video and Twitch
  • 2022–2033: All Thursday Night games (excluding NFL Kickoff and Thanksgiving Night Games)
  • 2023–2033:Black Friday game
  • 2024–2033: One Wild Card playoff game^[137][138]
• ESPN+
  • 2022–2033: One International series game
• Peacock
  • 2023: One regular season and one wild-card playoff game
  • 2024–2028: One regular season game
• Netflix
  • 2024–2026:Christmas Day game

Former broadcasters:

• DuMont Television Network
  • 1951–1955:Saturday Night Football
• TNT
  • 1990–1997: several Sunday night games (first half of season)

One-time and special broadcasts:

• NFL RedZone
  • 2009-present: Premium service of live whip around coverage of Sunday afternoon games.
• Nickelodeon
  • 2021-2033: Select multicast of games on CBS, featuring kid-friendly modifications to the in-game presentation^[139][140]

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The NFL's status as a prime offering by the networks has led some to conclude that unbiased coverage of the league is not possible, although this may be true of most sports. However, with the currentconcentration of media ownership in the U.S., the league essentially has broadcast contracts with four media companies (CBS's parent companyParamount Global,NBCUniversal,Fox Corporation, and ESPN's parent companyThe Walt Disney Company) that own a combined vast majority of the American broadcast and cable networks.

ESPN attempted to run a dramatic series showing steamier aspects of pro football,Playmakers, but canceled the series after the league reportedly threatened to exclude the network from the next set of TV contracts. The network also withdrew its partnership with thePBS seriesFrontline on the 2013 documentaryLeague of Denial, which chronicles the history of head injuries in the NFL, shortly after a meeting between ESPN executives and league commissionerRoger Goodell took place in New York City, though ESPN denies pressure from the NFL led to its backing out of the project, claiming a lack of editorial control instead.^[141][142]

Then in July 2015,The Hollywood Reporter reported that sources within ESPN believed that the NFL gave them a "terrible" 2015Monday Night Football schedule as "payback" for remarks made on air by both ESPN commentatorsKeith Olbermann andBill Simmons that were critical of the league and Goodell;^[143] ESPN parted ways with both Olbermann and Simmons during that same year.^[144]

In a 2019 interview with ESPN, longtimeNBC Sports anchorBob Costas revealed that he had been relieved of duties as host ofSuper Bowl LII the previous year after he made comments at aUniversity of Maryland symposium that the sport of football "destroys people's brains." A few years earlier, Costas had been told by NBC brass he could not present an essay onFootball Night in America about the 2015 filmConcussion because the network was in the process of bidding for the rights toThursday Night Football.^[145]

Counterprogramming, where other networks attempt to offer a program which is intended to compete with the NFL audience for a regular season game, playoff game or the Super Bowl (as Fox did in 1992 with a special segment of the sketch comedy seriesIn Living Color duringSuper Bowl XXVI), has also been heavily discouraged with the consolidation of rights among the major networks; ESPN generally airs low-profile niche sports, non-conference men's and women'scollege basketball (often featuring teams in non-NFL markets or non-football schools, as high-profile non-conference games usually occur in November and December during the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks), and minor league sports on Sunday afternoons, along with basic audio-only 'carousel' reports of current NFL scores by reporters from NFL stadiums on their other networks resembling those onESPN Radio orFox Sports Radio. From 2013 to 2022, ESPN has done some limited counterprogramming usingCanadian Football League coverage from sister network and licensing partnerTSN; in most cases, ESPN carries games in times when the NFL is not airing (except in cases, such as theGrey Cup, when a conflict is unavoidable). ESPN has also counterprogrammed the NFL's Thursday Night Football games withcollege football games of its own; the network had been carrying college football on Thursdays years before the NFL decided to play regularly on that night.

Programming on Fox and CBS when game coverage does not occur generally consists ofbrokered programming which featureextreme sports tours,Professional Bull Riders event coverage, and non-championship golf andProfessional Bowlers Association broadcasts, along with related documentaries. Fox has utilised the position for a "football-futbol doubleheader" with a 2:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m.Major League Soccer match, depending on market (the early game goes to markets with a late NFL game, and the late game goes to markets with an early NFL game; MLS, Fox, and the markets in question will work to ensure the late-season push for the playoff games will not clash with the NFL game in the same market; teams with shared ownership in close markets will not be allowed to have games on at the same time, such as theNew England Patriots andNew England Revolution withRobert Kraft,Atlanta Falcons andAtlanta United FC with Arthur Blank,Cleveland Browns and theColumbus Crew withJimmy Haslam, and theKansas City Chiefs andFC Dallas withClark Hunt). Fox uses the time also for the PBA Clash bowling event starting in 2018, and in 2021 will feature theNHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series in a similar manner (early game markets will air the race on tape delay, late game markets will air the race live). In many cases, primary market stations will usually air a local postgame show from their station's sports department with analysis and interviews and push the brokered programming to late night or a secondary station, if they carry it at all (there are network mandates to carry the PBR and PBA, for example). NBC, which has the Sunday night package, will runGolf Channel on NBC coverage, including theEvian Championship (a women's major held in France), aPGA Tour Challenge Season, or an international team tournament (depending on year, Ryder, Solheim, or President's Cup), motorsport (IMSA SportsCar Championship andNASCAR Cup Series late-season events; all serve as lead-in programming to Football Night in America), and Olympic sports which the demographic is focused towards women, such asISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. Likewise, since 2010 ABC has run low-profile same-week repeats of their programming in solidarity with ESPN or women's sporting events; in 2011, it did airthe INDYCAR season finale in Las Vegas, which was abandoned after reigningIndianapolis 500 championDan Wheldon (a resident of theTampa Bay Buccaneers market in St. Petersburg, FL) was killed on Lap 11 of 200.

Generally, the only networks to counterprogram the Super Bowl currently are niche cable networks with no "sports fan" appeal such asAnimal Planet with theirPuppy Bowl and imitation programming, and various marathons by other cable networks. In years when it does not carry the game, Fox has often purposelyburned off failed sitcoms and dramas to discourage viewers from tuning away from the game, with other networks generally running marathons of popular reality or drama programs (for NBC,The Apprentice has filled this role) merely to fill the evening rather than an actual attempt to counterprogram, and CBS notably runs themed60 Minutes episodes consisting of past stories featuring figures that fit the episode's theme. In 2022,Super Bowl LVI overlapped with theWinter Olympic Games. As NBC is the Olympics rightsholder for the United States, it sought to avoid a conflict between both events by tradingSuper Bowl LV to CBS in order to air the 2022 game, allowing NBC to maximize revenue in the process as it had in 2018 when it airedSuper Bowl LII days prior to the start of the Pyeongchang Olympics.^[146] Under a new contract with the NFL, NBC gained rights to Super Bowls in 2026, 2030, and 2034, which are also Winter Olympic years (NBC's current contract expires after the2032 Summer Olympics in Australia).^[147]

Until 2014 when the highlights programGameday Live was launched, theNFL Network during 1:00 p.m. regular season games and the playoffs merely featured a still screen with the data of ongoing games on-screen under the titleNFL GameCenter, whileSirius XM NFL Radio played in the background with 'carousel' score reports, with only highlights of game action from radio play-by-play heard occasionally.Super Bowl GameCenter retains this format during the Super Bowl, but with theWestwood One radio broadcast of the game instead.

Since 1998, at the start of the game, ateaser animation is displayed on all broadcasts. "Name of broadcaster welcomes you to the following presentation of the National Football League" (or similar phrasing) is announced, while at the end of the game, the message is "Name of broadcaster thanks you for watching this presentation of the National Football League" (or similar phrasing). This announcement is designed to separate game coverage from news, sports analysis, or entertainment programming not under the NFL contract and ownership.

Since that same year, the NFL has owned the rights to game broadcasts once they air—a copyright disclaimer airs either before the start of the second half or after the first commercial break of the second half, depending on the broadcaster ("This broadcast is copyrighted by NFL Productions for the private use of our audience. Any other use of this broadcast, or any pictures, descriptions or accounts of the game without the consent of NFL Productions is prohibited.", or similar phrasing). The phrasing of this disclaimer has gone through several revisions, the latest iteration first being used for the 2019 season. Notably, the disclaimer now refers to thebroadcast, nottelecast, and assigns copyright to NFL Productions, as opposed to the NFL. As wholly owned by the league, NFL Network has the exclusive rights to re-air games and a select few are chosen each week.

Until 2019, the NFL had a strict policy prohibiting networks from running ads during official NFL programming (pre- and post-game studio shows and the games themselves) from thegambling industry and had rejected some ads from theLas Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. CommissionerRoger Goodell explained in 2007 that it was inappropriate for the sport to be associated with sports betting.^[148] These restrictions also applied to any hotels that contain casinos, even if the casino is not mentioned in the ad.^[149][150] Officially, wagers such asover/unders andpoint spreads cannot be acknowledged on-air.^[151][152] Despite this policy,Al Michaels has been known for subtly including gambling-related observations in his commentary, as didJimmy Snyder during his time as an NFL analyst in the 1980s.^[153] Most teams inserted similar clauses into their radio contracts, which are locally negotiated. The NFL injury report and required videotaping of practice are intended to prevent gamblers from gaining inside information. In contrast,fantasy football is often free to play.Daily fantasy sports, which are structured to prevent being classified as gambling, air advertisements on the NFL's partner networks on game days, but originally not during time controlled by the league.

On January 3, 2019, the NFL announcedCaesars Entertainment Corporation as the "first ever official casino sponsor of the NFL," though was clear that the deal does not encompass sports betting.^[154]

In 2021, the NFL reached deals with seven sportsbooks for them to become "Approved Sportsbook Operators", allowing them to air commercials during NFL games and other league-controlled programming. Caesars Entertainment,DraftKings andFanDuel became official sponsors of the league, allowing them to use league and team-controlled trademarks on their websites, apps and in-person presences,^[155] while Fox Bet,BetMGM, PointsBet andWynnBet were approved to air advertising.^[156]

The NFL also bans advertisements in several other product segments, including “dietary or nutritional supplements that contain ingredients other than vitamins and minerals, [..] or any prohibited substance”,^{[157][158][159]}energy drinks,birth control,condoms, and hard liquor.^[150] Starting with the 2017 season, the NFL, with restrictions, allows a limited amount of liquor advertising during broadcasts.^[150]

The NFL imposes restrictions on sponsored segments during game coverage; this does not apply to national or local radio broadcasts. These are permitted only prior to kick off, during halftime, and following the game; however, these segments (and other programming with title sponsorships, particularly halftime and post-game shows or other sports properties) can be advertised a couple of times during game coverage, and "aerial footage" providers (i.e. sponsoredblimps) may be acknowledged, usually once an hour as is standard in other sports. Other acknowledgements (includingHDTV orSkycam-type camera sponsorships) are limited to pre-kickoff and post-game credits. This is done so that, while competitors of the NFL's official sponsors may advertise on game broadcasts, they will not potentially become synonymous with the league through in-game and/or title sponsorship.

Sideline reporters are restricted as to whom they can speak to and when (usually a head coach at halftime, and one or two players before and after the game ends). Information on injured players or rules interpretations are relayed from NFL off-field officials to the TV producers in the truck, who then pass it along to the sideline reporters or booth announcers. Thus, CBS opted in 2006 to no longer use sideline reporters except for some playoff games. ESPN followed suit by reducing the roles of their sideline reporters in 2008. Fox hired former NFL officiating directorMike Pereira in 2010 as arules analyst, who relays rules interpretations from Los Angeles to the games that network covers, leaving their sideline reporters able to focus less on that role. Likewise, CBS hired retired refereeMike Carey in 2014 in the same role from New York on Sundays and the NFL Network inCulver City duringThursday Night Football games, though he departed the network after the 2015 season and was replaced byGene Steratore in 2018. During the 2020 season, NFL sideline reporters instead were stationed in the lower portion of seating areas due to COVID-19 protocols, with news relayed to them by team officials or off-air staffers instead.

The NFL ownsNFL Films, whose duties include providing game film to media outlets for highlights shows after a 2- to 3-day window during which outlets can use original game broadcast highlights.

The NFL operatesNFL+, a streaming service that broadcasts live out-of-market preseason games, radio broadcasts from all 32 teams andWestwood One Sports, and live in-market games on mobile devices, in addition to library programming from NFL Films and NFL Network. A premium tier allows access to on-demand game replays. It was previously known as NFL Game Pass until adopting its current name prior to the 2022 NFL season.

Outside the United States, NFL games are broadcast in the Americas across Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America; as well as in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Games can also be streamed through theNFL Game Pass International package, which is distributed by theDAZN platform.

• NFL Network
• NFL Sunday Ticket
• List of current National Football League broadcasters
• National Football League on Canadian television
• Major League Baseball on television
• Major League Soccer on television
• National Basketball Association on television
• National Hockey League on television

• FOXBusiness.com – NFL Blackout Policy Angers Fans
• NFL Media Rights Deals For '07 Season
• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
• America's Game: How Pro Football Captured A Nation byMichael MacCambridge (ISBN 0-375-50454-0)
• NFL to remain on broadcast TV
• NFL announces new prime-time TV packages
• CleverDonkey.com: The NFL Should Bench Its Blackout Rules
• NFL Network to televise regular-season games
• Process of game-time decisions will eliminate TV duds, create chaos by Michael Hiestand,USA Today, April 5, 2006 (Last accessed April 5, 2006)
• A Chronology of Pro Football on Television
• Gary Holmes at MediaPost looks at how the NFL continues to be a ratings draw over a 40 year span.
• Packers Live TV Telecast Rights in USA

• NFL on television
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