National Football League on television

Since 1970, the regional Sunday games (1 p.m. "early" and 4:05/4:25 p.m. "late" games Eastern time) have been split into AFC and NFC "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 on Thanksgiving, wild card playoff games, divisional playoff games, and the respective conference championship game for each network.

In 1970, when the NFL and AFL merged, and home blackouts were put into place for AFC games (some AFL teams had lifted these during its run; as an example, most New York Jets' home games in 1968 and 1969 were telecast on WNBC-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. 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, as the team before 1995 played selected games in Milwaukee, including an NFL Championship Game held in the infield of the Milwaukee Mile.) The Dallas Cowboys (due to that team's national popularity regardless of on-the-field play) and a team or player that has had recent success (such as the New England Patriots due to that team's success since Bill Belichick took over in 2000, then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following Tom Brady's departure from New England in 2020) 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.[24][25][26]

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 in 1978 to the Los Angeles Rams, 1990 to the Indianapolis Colts, 1992 to the Houston Oilers, 1993 to both the Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers, 1997 and 2003 to the Miami Dolphins, 1999 to the New England Patriots, 2005 to the Baltimore Ravens, 2013 to the Atlanta Falcons, 2015 to the Arizona Cardinals and 2021 to the New Orleans Saints. In the 1997 Dolphins' case, their home game against the Chicago Bears had been initially slated for Fox, but was moved to Monday night due to Game 7 of the World Series that was played on Sunday night. In the 2015 Cardinals' case, their home game against the Cincinnati Bengals had been initially slated for CBS, but was moved to Sunday night on NBC via flexible scheduling.

The 2016 Arizona Cardinals, 2018 Detroit Lions, 2019 New Orleans Saints and 2020 New 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 on Thursday Night Football in Week 5 at the San Francisco 49ers, the Lions appeared in their traditional Thanksgiving Day game against the Chicago Bears, the Saints had their games against the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers crossflexed from Fox, and the Giants had their games against the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys crossflexed from Fox.

The Seattle Seahawks did not appear on NBC in their inaugural season of 1976, nor did the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1977, despite neither playing a single prime time game. In 1976, Seattle played in the NFC 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 the NFC Central and played their sole interconference game at Seattle (thus on CBS). Seattle would later return to the NFC West in 2002.

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 in 1982 to the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers, 1987 to the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, 1991 to the Minnesota Vikings and 2001 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The 1982 and 1987 teams all had one of their two scheduled interconference home games cancelled by a players' strike. Additionally, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only NFL team to complete a perfect season, did not appear on CBS; their lone interconference home game vs. the St. Louis Cardinals was broadcast on Monday Night Football, and Super 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 in 2016 to the Oakland Raiders, 2018 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2019 to both the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, 2020 to the San Francisco 49ers, 2021 to the Tennessee Titans and 2023 to both the Los Angeles Chargers and Green Bay Packers. Intraconference games may be crossflexed 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:[27]

• 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 broadcasts either:

• 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,[28] 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 in 2012) 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 the pre-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 air 60 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 the Mountain and Pacific 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 (2:00 p.m. ET) are ever scheduled, partly to avoid conflict with religious services in those cities; Denver had three noon MT kickoffs at Mile High Stadium late in the 1972 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.[29][27] These are not necessarily alternating weeks; one network may have two or rarely three consecutive doubleheaders; this only occurs when one network has doubleheader weeks 2 and 3 after both networks had the doubleheader in week 1, or in weeks 16 and 17, and then both networks have doubleheaders week 18; has happened to Fox 2019 and CBS in 2018. Fox requests to carry a doubleheader on a Sunday it airs a World Series game (typically Game 5) and uses the featured 4:25 game as a lead-in for the baseball playoffs (though in 1996, 2001, 2005, 2014, 2019 and 2020 Fox did not have a doubleheader on the day it broadcast of the World Series).[30]

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.[31][32] 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 the U.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 the Mountain and Pacific 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. In 1991 (Charleston, South Carolina market) and 1995 (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's Ryder 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 the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the league had to accommodate similar broadcasting conflicts when two men's major golf championships were postponed to the fall. The league gave Fox one late game in Week 2, Washington Football Team at Arizona Cardinals, to allow viewers to see the conclusion of the U.S. Open on Fox Sports 1 September 20.[33] Rights to the golf tournament were later transferred to NBC, whose single primetime window for football rendered the point moot.[34] Similarly with the final round of The Masters rescheduled for November 15, CBS was not given any early games in Week 10.[35]

NFL Sunday Ticket is a subscription-based package that allows out 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.[36][37] Starting with the 2023 NFL regular season, YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels, will offer NFL Sunday Ticket.[38] It will be exclusive to YouTube in the US and available on streaming devices, mobile apps, smart TVs, as well as most web browsers.[39][40][41] Satellite broadcast company DirecTV previously offered Sunday Ticket from the inception of the product in 1994 until the end of the 2022 regular season.[42][43]

In Canada, NFL Sunday Ticket is available via the streaming service DAZN and traditional cable and satellite providers.[44][45] This is due to Canadian law generally preventing one provider from offering a package on an exclusive basis.

A similar service is generally available on NFL GamePass International and local providers outside of the USA and Canada. Blackout and other restrictions vary on an individual country basis due to network exclusivities.[46][47]

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 many cable, streaming, and satellite providers in the United States, as well as several international services.[48][49]

Several factors determine which games are carried in each market. Each of the 32 NFL teams is assigned a "primary market" which is the metropolitan 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.[27] 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.[50]

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 Week 17 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.[51][52]

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.[53] 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.[27]

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.[27]

If the local team is scheduled for the late game of a doubleheader, it has importance over any early game.[27] If 4:25 p.m. arrives, and the early game is ongoing, the primary affiliate (all games) and secondary affiliates (road games) 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 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 on until completion, and the late game is 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. Since 2020, two pairs of teams are affected by this rule, and are subject to additional rules described below:

• The New York Giants and New York Jets
• The Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers

The Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams gained shared-marked status, after the Rams' returned to Los Angeles (from St. Louis) in 2016, followed by the Chargers (from San Diego) in 2017. After playing in separate stadiums from 2017 to 2019, they began sharing SoFi 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 respective AFC West and NFC 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 at Denver and Las Vegas; and the Rams' away games at Arizona, San Francisco, and Seattle.
• During seasons in which the AFC West and NFC 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 against Kansas 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 visiting AFC team) are televised by CBS, and the Chargers' interconference home games (with a visiting NFC team) are on Fox, 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 share SoFi 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 and MyNetworkTV affiliate KCOP-TV.[54] Likewise, CBS split between KCBS-TV and sister station KCAL-TV. These instances required cross-flexing of one NFC game (the Rams hosted the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5 on CBS) and one AFC game (the Chargers hosted the Buffalo Bills on Fox in Week 11).

The New York Giants and New York Jets began sharing the New York City market after the Jets began play in 1960. Both teams played at Giants Stadium from 1984 to 2009 and MetLife 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 the 2009 season due to unusual scheduling logistics. These exceptions marked the first times since the 1984 season that the Giants and Jets played games simultaneously.[55] 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 all NFC East and AFC 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, in 2016, the Jets hosted the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams. The former game was scheduled during the same week in which the Giants played the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football, while the latter game was scheduled during the same week in which the Giants played the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. Conversely, the Giants' other interconference home game, vs. the Baltimore Ravens, was scheduled during the same week in which the Jets played on Monday 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).[56] In such an instance, Fox would likely have split coverage between its New York properties, WNYW and WWOR-TV. However, the NFL later crossflexed the Saints-Jets game to CBS.[57]

Although in close proximity, the Washington Commanders and Baltimore 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 Washington, most cases involve a Ravens away game being aired in D.C. opposite a Washington 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.[58]

In 2010, with the Broncos–49ers game being played in London, 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.[59] 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.

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 and Football 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), 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 protect FNIA. 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 because 60 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.

NBC has broadcast the marquee "game of the week" nationally since 2006. Before 2006, the "game of the week" was considered to be Monday Night Football on ABC. However, ESPN previously aired games on Sunday nights from 1987-2005, and TNT aired games from 1990-1997.

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) or Amazon Prime Video (2022 and on), with the exceptions of the Week 1 NFL 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 with President Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic 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),[60] the five teams in the Pacific Time Zone — the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks — would have more limited scheduling options in years that the AFC West and NFC West divisions don't face each other in interconference play. There have been some notable exceptions: the Kansas City Chiefs, who are based in the Central Time Zone, have played both the Chargers and Raiders on Thursdays; the Rams, who were based in St. Louis until 2015, played against the 49ers in 2013. Since TNF started in 2012, the Dallas Cowboys of the Central Time Zone have occasionally hosted clubs from the Pacific Time Zone on Thanksgiving Day: Dallas hosted the Oakland Raiders in 2013, the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017, and hosted the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021. 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,[61] and each Thursday night game was an intra-division game, except for the Packers–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.

Between 2006 and 2020, ESPN has opened the season with a Monday 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 the 2018 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.

Since 2020, select Monday Night Football games have been simulcast on ABC, ESPN2, and ESPN+. 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 by Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit, while the current version, started in 2021, is hosted by Eli Manning and Peyton Manning and nicknamed the “Manningcast.”

To maximize television ratings, as well as to protect the NFL's ability to sell television rights collectively, games televised on cable or streaming are blacked out in each of the primary markets of both teams (the Green Bay Packers have two primary markets, Green Bay and Milwaukee, a remnant of when they played some home games in Milwaukee each season, see below) under syndicated exclusivity regulations as the league sells via broadcast syndication a package featuring that team's games.

This station does not need to have affiliate connections with a national broadcaster of NFL games, though owned-and-operated stations of ABC and Hearst Television (even those Hearst stations not affiliated with ABC, and including their one independent station in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market) have first right of refusal for ESPN games due to both ESPN and ABC's common ownership by The 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 successful Dancing with the Stars.[62] In other markets, stations who are the affiliates of MyNetworkTV or The CW (and, in at least one case, an independent station[63]) 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 a low-power station). With increasing consolidation of local broadcasters in the United States, larger station ownership groups (particularly Nexstar Media Group) have increasingly cornered the market for these simulcasts.

The NFL's anti-siphoning regulations affect all cable and streaming games. In the markets of the participating teams, the respective cable channel is blacked out. Cable and streaming games air via broadcast syndication to an over-the-air station. Typically, the team's flagship station for the preseason games will hold such rights, as teams will usually sell the preseason, local non-broadcast television games as one package. Only over-the-air stations in the market of the participating teams (with the Green Bay Packers having two such markets) may bid on this syndicated package. In 2014, CBS affiliates in the primary markets in question have the primary option to NFL Network-only games; if the local affiliate declines the option (as was in Cincinnati), the NFL will implement the same syndicated package rule. In 2016 and 2017, with the TNF package split between CBS and NBC, this depended on which network produces the game for NFL Network. With Fox taking over the TNF package in 2018, Fox affiliates will have the primary option of simulcasting NFL Network games. Starting in 2022, the Amazon Prime Video subscription service will hold the rights to broadcast TNF and because of this, the NFL will continue to require these games to be syndicated to the team's local markets.[64]

This led to controversy in 2007, when the New England Patriots were scheduled to play the New York Giants at Giants Stadium in their regular 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 the Senate Judiciary Committee threatened the NFL's antitrust 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.[65] (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.

Under the agreement for the 2014 season between CBS and the NFL Network for Thursday Night Football simulcasts during the first half of the season, local rights to such games that are not carried by CBS are awarded to the markets' CBS affiliates, rather than syndicated. If the CBS affiliate opts out of the deal, the NFL will offer the package by syndication, typically with the Monday Night package.[66] The CBS/NFL Network deal was extended for the 2015 season on January 18, 2015.[67] For the 2016 season, two midseason TNF games were NFL Network-exclusive but produced by NBC; the NBC affiliates in those markets with teams competing carried 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.

On November 8, 1987, the very first NFL game ever aired on ESPN was played between the New England Patriots and New 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 property WABC-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 own Corey McPherrin doing play-by-play, and Frank Gifford and Lynn Swann from Monday 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 the Sports 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 any high school or college 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 1970–1993, Fox and NBC from 1994–1997, and Fox and CBS from 1998–2005) were given at least two Saturday afternoon national broadcasts in December, with ESPN 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 the NFL 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 on CBS. 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 and Fox 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 will air a Saturday doubleheader during Week 18 featuring games with playoff implications.

The 2021 season will feature six Saturday regular season games (two each in Weeks 15, 16, and 18), equal with the 2001 and 2003 seasons for the most Saturday games played in a season since the turn of the millennium (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 the New England Patriots' historic comeback from a 22–3 deficit in the fourth quarter against the New York Giants in 1996, a game the same season between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New 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 at Three Rivers Stadium featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins in 2000, another Patriots-Giants matchup in 2007 which saw the Patriots complete a 16–0 season and was simulcast on three networks, the last-ever match at Texas Stadium won by the Baltimore Ravens over the Dallas Cowboys in 2008,[68] a 2012 game between the Detroit Lions and the Atlanta Falcons in which Calvin Johnson of the Lions set the NFL record for receiving yards in one season, a 2015 game between the Eagles and the Redskins to decide the NFC East champion, and a 2022 game between the Titans and Jaguars to decide the AFC South champion.

Thanksgiving Day contests have been held since before the league's inception. The Detroit 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 first color television broadcast of an NFL regular season game was the 1965 Thanksgiving contest between the Lions and Baltimore Colts. In 1966, the NFL introduced an annual game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys, which has been played every year except in 1975 and 1977 when the St. 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 of Thursday 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 an Eastern 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 two games scheduled for Christmas Night to be broadcast nationally (which most recently happened in 2016).

The first NFL games played on December 25 came during the 1971 season. The first two games of the Divisional Playoff Round that year were held on Christmas Day. The first game that day was between Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings. The second of the two contests played that day, the Miami Dolphins versus the Kansas City Chiefs, ended up being the longest game in NFL history.[76] 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 the Cincinnati Bengals hosted by the Minnesota Vikings, but it was a 9:00 p.m. ET Monday 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 4:30 p.m. ET since 1971.

There have also been several games played on Christmas Eve over the years, including an Oakland 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.[77] 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 NFL has so far only staged games on New Year's Day when it falls on a Sunday. Historically when this occurs, the numerous college football bowl 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 its first league championship game on January 1, 1961. Thereafter, games were played on New Year's Day in 1967 (the 1966 NFL and AFL Championship Games), in 1978 (the 1977 NFC and AFC Championship Games), in 1984 (the 1983 NFC and AFC Divisional Playoff Games), in 1989 (the 1988 NFC and AFC Divisional Playoff Games), and in 1995 (the second half of the 1994 NFC and AFC Wild Card Games).

The league's schedule during the 2000's and 2010's resulted in New Year's Weekend consistently falling during the last week of the NFL's regular season. 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 the 2005, 2011, and 2016 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 in 2021, New Year's Weekend has consistently fallen during the second-to-last week of the NFL's regular season. In 2023, during the 2022 regular season, the regular slate of Sunday games was scheduled on New Year's Day and a Monday Night Football game on January 2. For the following 2023 regular season, the regular slate of Sunday games was still scheduled for New Year's Eve, but the Monday Night Football game was moved to Saturday, December 30 to defer to the New Year's Day college football bowl games.

• The NFL scheduled Monday 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.
• A Monday Night Football game is always scheduled on Columbus Day, a federal holiday not universally celebrated by all states.
• The NFL only plays on Halloween or Veterans Day if the holiday falls on a day in which football is normally played (Thursday, Sunday, or Monday).
• Since 2022, the NFL has one Monday Night Football game during the Wild Card round of the playoffs[78] that would sometimes fall on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

NBC Sunday Night Football became the only second regular live prime time television program in U.S. history to emerge as the most watched overall U.S. television series, after ending Fox's American Idol's record of eight consecutive seasons on hold of the rank in the 2011–12 season.[85] The series holds this rank every season since, except in 2013, 2014 and 2018 when CBS shows NCIS and The Big Bang Theory, and ABC show Roseanne, respectively earned the title. As of 2023, Super Bowl XLIX on NBC in 2015 remains the most watched telecast by average in U.S. history, attracting 115 million viewers for both halves of the game.[86][87] Meanwhile, Super Bowl LI on Fox in 2017 remains 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 first overtime period ever for a Super Bowl.[88][89]

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 the 1983 series finale of M*A*S*H on CBS.[90][91] The NFL telecasts are known for their relative stability in their TV ratings in the United States since the beginning of the 21st century. Since 2010, except 2019 and 2021, the annual Super Bowl telecasts (including the halftime 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.[92]

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: One wild-card playoff game, one divisional playoff game
    • 2016–2017: Several Thursdays, rare Saturdays [simulcast on NFL Network]
    • 2020–2022: 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)
  • • 2014–2017: Several Thursdays, rare Saturdays [either conference, simulcast on NFL 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)
    • 2018–2021: Several Thursdays, rare Saturdays [either conference, simulcast on NFL 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 on ABC from 2020–present)
    • 2021–2023: Manningcast supplemental telecast
  • 2014: One wild-card playoff game
  • 2016-2017: Pro Bowl
  • 2018–2033: Simulcasts and/or Megacast 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
  • 2023–2033: NFL Network Exclusive Game Series (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 on ESPN2 from 2017 onward)
  • 2006–2021: ESPN/ABC simulcasts, including ESPN's wild card game, plus Super Bowls in CBS-covered years

Current mobility partners:

• Verizon Wireless
  • 2014–2017: Exclusive carrier to view NFL telecasts on mobile devices with the rights costing $250 million per year.[104]
  • 2018–2022: Expanded agreement to include streaming in-market NFL telecasts on any mobile carrier through one of its websites such as Yahoo with the rights costing Verizon $500 million per year.[105]
• 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
• Peacock
  • 2023: One regular season and one wild-card playoff 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[106][107]

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 current concentration of media ownership in the U.S., the league essentially has broadcast contracts with four media companies (Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, Fox Corporation, and ESPN's parent company The 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 the PBS series Frontline on the 2013 documentary League of Denial, which chronicles the history of head injuries in the NFL, shortly after a meeting between ESPN executives and league commissioner Roger 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.[108][109]

Then in July 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that sources within ESPN believed that the NFL gave them a "terrible" 2015 Monday Night Football schedule as "payback" for remarks made on air by both ESPN commentators Keith Olbermann and Bill Simmons that were critical of the league and Goodell;[110] ESPN parted ways with both Olbermann and Simmons during that same year.[111]

In a 2019 interview with ESPN, longtime NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas revealed that he had been relieved of duties as host of Super Bowl LII the previous year after he made comments at a University 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 on Football Night in America about the 2015 film Concussion because the network was in the process of bidding for the rights to Thursday Night Football.[112]

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 series In Living Color during Super 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's college 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 on ESPN Radio or Fox Sports Radio. From 2013 to 2022, ESPN has done some limited counterprogramming using Canadian Football League coverage from sister network and licensing partner TSN; in most cases, ESPN carries games in times when the NFL is not airing (except in cases, such as the Grey Cup, when a conflict is unavoidable). ESPN has also counterprogrammed the NFL's Thursday Night Football games with college 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 of brokered programming which feature extreme sports tours, Professional Bull Riders event coverage, and non-championship golf and Professional 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 the New England Patriots and New England Revolution with Robert Kraft, Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC with Arthur Blank, Cleveland Browns and the Columbus Crew with Jimmy Haslam, and the Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas with Clark Hunt). Fox uses the time also for the PBA Clash bowling event starting in 2018, and in 2021 will feature the NHRA 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 run Golf Channel on NBC coverage, including the Evian Championship (a women's major held in France), a PGA Tour event, or an international team tournament (depending on year, Ryder, Solheim, or President's Cup), motorsport (NTT IndyCar Series and NASCAR 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 as ISU 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 air the INDYCAR season finale in Las Vegas, which was abandoned after reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon, who resided in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers market, 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 as Animal Planet with their Puppy Bowl and imitation programming, and various marathons by other cable networks. In years when it does not carry the game, Fox has often purposely burned 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 themed 60 Minutes episodes consisting of past stories featuring figures that fit the episode's theme. In 2022, Super Bowl LVI overlapped with the Winter Olympic Games. As NBC is the Olympics rightsholder for the United States, it sought to avoid a conflict between both events by trading Super 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 aired Super Bowl LII days prior to the start of the Pyeongchang Olympics.[113] 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 the 2032 Summer Olympics in Australia).[114]

Until 2014 when the highlights program Gameday Live was launched, the NFL 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 title NFL GameCenter, while Sirius 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 the Westwood One radio broadcast of the game instead.

Since 1998, at the start of the game, a teaser 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 the broadcast, not telecast, 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 the gambling industry and had rejected some ads from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Commissioner Roger Goodell explained in 2007 that it was inappropriate for the sport to be associated with sports betting.[115] These restrictions also applied to any hotels that contain casinos, even if the casino is not mentioned in the ad.[116][117] Officially, wagers such as over/unders and point spreads cannot be acknowledged on-air.[118][119] Despite this policy, Al Michaels has been known for subtly including gambling-related observations in his commentary, as did Jimmy Snyder during his time as an NFL analyst in the 1980s.[120] 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 announced Caesars Entertainment Corporation as the "first ever official casino sponsor of the NFL," though was clear that the deal does not encompass sports betting.[121]

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. Ceasars Entertainment, DraftKings and FanDuel became official sponsors of the league, allowing them to use league and team-controlled trademarks on their websites, apps and in-person presences,[122] while Fox Bet, BetMGM, PointsBet and WynnBet were approved to air advertising.[123]

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”,[124][125][126] energy drinks, birth control, condoms, and hard liquor.[117] Starting with the 2017 season, the NFL, with restrictions, allows a limited amount of liquor advertising during broadcasts.[117]

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. sponsored blimps) may be acknowledged, usually once an hour as is standard in other sports. Other acknowledgements (including HDTV or Skycam-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 director Mike Pereira in 2010 as a rules 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 referee Mike Carey in 2014 in the same role from New York on Sundays and the NFL Network in Culver City during Thursday Night Football games, though he departed the network after the 2015 season and was replaced by Gene 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.