The 2026 NFL preseason starts Aug. 6 at 8 p.m. ET with the Hall of Fame Game, and the full schedule runs from Aug. 13 through Aug. 29 before the regular season opens Sept. 9. The opener features the Carolina Panthers against the Arizona Cardinals.
That makes now the moment fans need to map out how they are going to watch it. The 48-game preseason is split across multiple outlets, with 32 games on, Unlimited or NFL Network, while the rest are spread across Prime Video and local CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox stations.
The distribution matters because the viewing setup is not one-size-fits-all. The only game on Prime Video is the Aug. 27 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and the New England Patriots, but local broadcasts still depend on where a fan lives. Out-of-market preseason games can be harder to follow because the local station feed may not reach every home, which is why some viewers will need more than one subscription or access method to see every game they want.
For fans trying to cover the whole slate, the costs add up quickly. A digital antenna for local networks runs about $30 to $40 on average, while an Unlimited subscription with the NFL+ Premium add-on costs $39.99 a month for the bundle. Prime Video adds another $8.99 a month, putting the total for all three access points at roughly $80 to $90 for a month, or about $49 a month after the antenna is already bought.
That leaves a simple conclusion: the 2026 NFL preseason is easy to date on paper, but not always easy to watch in practice. The first test comes with the Hall of Fame Game, and after that the bigger question for many viewers is not when the games begin, but which one of their screens will actually show them.
