Being a fan of one of the NFL’s biggest fan bases has its perks. For Green Bay Packers fans living in the United States but outside of the team’s home television markets, nationally televised games are a welcome sight. Fans can certainly debate the time slot that they prefer based on their own circumstances, but one thing is certain: if you don’t live in Wisconsin, more prime time games means it’s easier and cheaper to see every Packers game on TV than if you were, say, a Las Vegas Raiders fan living outside of the American
Southwest.
This season, the Packers should have roughly two-thirds of their regular season schedule available to all — or nearly all — American football fans via local TV or national streaming services. It’s those other games where local channels are likely to have other games that become the biggest challenge, and for Packers fans outside of the team’s home media market, it’s worth giving a bit of forethought to how to tune in.
Prime time games aren’t in consideration here. One way or another, those games are readily available to any American football fan, regardless of location. This season, more so than others, will require some streaming subscriptions to get them all, but you can focus on just two: Prime Video and Netflix.
Instead, let’s focus on the NFL’s typical Sunday afternoon schedule, starting with a refresher on how the league’s conventional television broadcast deal works. Each of FOX and CBS get a minimum of one game in every television market, with one of the two networks carrying a second game. Generally, the doubleheader alternates between the two networks, though in Weeks 1 and 18 they both have rights to broadcast games in both time slots.
Generally, the network with the doubleheader will try to put its “Game of the Week” in that afternoon slot. Because fewer games kick off later — generally, only these big matchups or games taking place in the Pacific or Mountain time zones get the late afternoon slot — the bigger matchup goes out to as many stations across the country as possible to maximize viewership. There are simply more games played in the early Sunday time slot than the late afternoon, and therefore there more opportunities for a local station to carry a different game.
Of course, the NFL does have one authorized option for watching Sunday games that are not available on your local TV affiliates: NFL Sunday Ticket. However, that can be an extremely expensive option, as it costs $240 for the whole season for new subscribers or $378 for returning users. Unlike last season, the service does not offer a monthly subscription option that can be canceled That’s a hefty price for plenty of football fans, which could drive them to local restaurants or bars instead of the comfort of home.
However, as mentioned earlier, out-of-market Packers fans will have a minimal need for Sunday Ticket in 2026. Barring games being flexed out of their current time slots, the Packers have a whopping six prime time games this season, four more 3:25 PM kickoffs, and one noon game that is on a holiday and is there guaranteed to be available nationwide. That leaves only five games currently scheduled for the early Sunday time slot, with the kickoff time in week 18 as always to be determined.
Of course, the NFL’s aggressive expansion into streaming services make it somewhat more expensive to watch all of these “nationally broadcast” games. That is especially so for the Packers, who will have a whopping four of their 17 regular season games available exclusively on streaming platforms. Green Bay plays twice on Thursday Night Football, which is shown on Prime Video, while the games on Wednesday of Thanksgiving week and Christmas Day will be on Netflix. Yes, that means fans outside of Green Bay and Milwaukee will need two streaming subscriptions over the course of the season. But if timed right, those subscription fees are much less expensive than a full year of NFL Sunday Ticket.
Let’s look at the schedule week-by-week to see the few instances when a Sunday Ticket subscription is likely to come in handy. Let’s look at each of the Sunday afternoon games — both early and late — to see what other games they will be up against and whether the Packers’ contest is likely to be a top matchup.
Week 1: @ Vikings, 3:25 PM — Game of the Week
The opening week is one of the few that feature both networks getting a doubleheader. CBS picked Packers-Vikings as its highlight game in the late afternoon, with only one other contest (Cardinals vs. Chargers) up against it on CBS. FOX does have two as well: Commanders vs. Eagles and Dolphins vs. Raiders. Blackout rules might mean that the home markets for those teams could have CBS blacked out, but this should be a very widely shown game as long as you’re not in the southwest.
Week 2: @ Jets, 12:00 PM — Regional Broadcast
FOX has the doubleheader in week 2, so most markets will get one of the four total games in this time slot, with Vikings-Bears likely to be the biggest matchup. That will likely have the widest distribution, so expect to make alternate arrangements if you’re outside of the Wisconsin or New York City markets.
Week 4: @ Buccaneers, 12:00 PM — Regional Broadcast
The entire NFL early slate is stacked this week. Along with this game, FOX has Cowboys-Texans, Rams-Eagles, and Jets-Bears, with the first two of those being great matchups that should dominate the landscape. CBS has the doubleheader, however, meaning the Dolphins-Vikings contest at 3:05 PM will also be competing for eyeballs. This game is probably the one least likely to show up on your local station if you live outside of Wisconsin (or, in this case, Florida).
Week 5: vs. Bears, 3:25 PM — Game of the Week
Surprisingly, FOX has to air two other games alongside Packers-Bears, which is one of that network’s biggest games of the year on the heels of last year’s Wild Card game. 49ers-Seahawks and Lions-Cardinals are also on the network in that time slot, but expect the NFC North showdown to be aired across most of the rest of the country.
Week 7: @ Lions, 3:25 PM — Game of the Week
This one will be almost everywhere. The only markets that should see a different game on FOX at that time will be LA and Las Vegas, which should get the Rams-Raiders game.
Week 9: @ Patriots, 3:25 PM — Game of the Week
As was the case two weeks earlier, this contest will only have one other game to compete with on FOX, this one being Cardinals-Seahawks.
Week 10: vs. Vikings, 12:00 PM — Regional Broadcast
For only the third time in the first ten weeks, the Packers play at noon. On paper, this seems like the best game on FOX in the early slot, however; Panthers-Saints, Texans-Browns, and Jaguars-Titans don’t feature many fan bases on the level of the Packers, and the NFC North is still expected to be one of the best divisions in football. FOX also has the doubleheader, so no competing with any games in the late time slot. Expect a good portion of the country to get this game locally.
Week 13: @ Saints, 12:00 PM — Regional Broadcast
This week is a bit tougher to predict than many of the others. It’s on FOX, but CBS has the doubleheader. That makes it one of five games over two time slots that channels have to pick from, a group that includes the following: 49ers-Giants (Noon), Jaguars-Bears (Noon), Eagles-Cardinals (3:05), and Dolphins-Broncos (3:05). It’s anyone’s guess if any of these will end up being a big draw, so don’t count on getting Green Bay’s game this week.
Week 15: vs. Dolphins, 12:00 PM — Regional Broadcast
As in Week 15, this game also competes with four others for viewership on FOX in a non-doubleheader week, but none of them jump out on paper — in part because the NFL put a couple of big games on Saturday instead. Good luck predicting if Falcons-Commanders, Bengals-Panthers, Saints-Bucs, or Jets-Cardinals is a big draw; Green Bay having the biggest nationwide fan base might be enough to give them the widest audience, but who knows.
Week 18: vs. Lions, TBD
It’s week 18. Who knows. This might end up on Sunday Night Football or it may be buried early in the afternoon, depending on the division standings. Don’t worry about it for now.
So after all of that, where do we stand? Again, most of those 3:25 games should be nearly national broadcasts, unless you’re in Arizona, which will have to carry Cardinals games instead in three of the four weeks, Seattle (two Seahawks conflicts), or Los Angeles (two conflicts: Rams and Chargers once each). Fans in those markets may want to think a bit farther ahead and may get more of their money’s worth out of a Sunday Ticket subscription.
For fans outside of Wisconsin but also not out west, that leaves the five Noon games in weeks 2, 4, 10, 13, and 15 as the focal points. One potential benefit is that they are a bit clustered, with two games in a three-week span early in the season and the other three coming in a six-week span in the second half of the season.
NFL Sunday Ticket often offers promotional deals partway through the season, giving fans access to the remainder of the campaign at a substantial discount. If you can find a local establishment for the two early games in the first month of the regular season, signing up for an offer like that before the Week 10 Vikings game could give you the biggest bang for your buck, guaranteeing you access to the three expected late-season early games.
Finally, how does this compare to previous years? Let’s take a quick look.
- 2026: 5 regional games, 4 GOTW, 7 national, 1 TBD
- 2025: 7 regional, 3 GOTW, 7 national
- 2024: 8 regional, 4 GOTW, 5 national
- 2023: 10 regional, 1 GOTW, 6 national
- 2022: 4 regional, 5 GOTW, 8 national
With a caveat for flexible scheduling, this is set to be the fewest regional broadcasts of any season with Jordan Love quarterbacking the Packers. In fact, the last time the Packers played so few regional broadcasts was in 2022, Aaron Rodgers’ last season with the Packers, when they had only four compared to five afternoon Games of the Week and a whopping eight national games (including Christmas Day and Week 18 against the Lions). Of course, the Packers did not live up to the expected hype that season, going 8-9 and losing to Detroit with a playoff spot on the line.
Hopefully the 2026 Packers better justify the NFL’s decision to put them on as many television sets as possible this season.
