NFL Blackout Rules & Restrictions
The NFL handles local restrictions vastly differently than the NBA, NHL, and MLB. Here is how modern NFL broadcasting rules affect your legal streaming options.
Do NFL Blackouts Still Exist?
Unlike MLB, NBA, and NHL, the NFL suspended its local television blackout policy (which previously blacked out games if the stadium did not sell out) starting in 2015. Today, all local, in-market games are broadcast on over-the-air television (CBS, FOX, NBC) regardless of attendance.
Prior to 2015, if a local team did not sell out their stadium 72 hours before kickoff, the NFL would enforce a local television blackout to encourage ticket sales. This policy is currently suspended.
Bottom Line: You will never be blacked out from watching your local team on local television.
The Reverse Blackout: NFL Sunday Ticket
Where fans actually encounter "blackouts" in the modern NFL is while trying to stream their local team using an out-of-market premium package.
NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV is only for out-of-market games. Your local, in-market team's games will be blacked out on Sunday Ticket and forced onto your local CBS or FOX affiliate.
How to Stream Every Game
To Watch Your Local Team:
- • Digital TV Antenna (Free, ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC)
- • Paramount+ (Local CBS streams)
- • Peacock (Local NBC streams)
- • Fubo / YouTube TV / Hulu+ Live TV
- • NFL+ (Mobile device only)
To Watch Out-of-Market Teams:
- • NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube (Sundays)
- • NFL RedZone (Sundays)
- • Out-of-market Sunday night, Monday night, and Thursday night games are universally broadcasted nationally.