If there’s anything we’ve learned about being a fan of NFL teams, it’s that to watch all the games is expensive. If you like the NFL in general, the costs of everything will easilly crack the $500 barrier. The Athletic’s Tess DeMeyer put together a price list for an NFL fan to enjoy the season and it got me thinking: what if I just want to see San Francisco 49ers games? The schedule is out so we can start crunching numbers on what you’re looking at.
I tried to get all the services the 49ers are on, what the monthly price is (assuming you can cancel the subscription between months) and got a rough total of what we’re looking at.
First, your TV package
I am assuming everyone here has a television provider of some sort, if you don’t well, we’ll get to that. Either way, you’re going to want Fox Sports and CBS Sports to be in that lineup.
If you don’t have a TV provider you’re going to need a package somewhere. I’d recommend YouTube since you can get a deal on Sunday Ticket (see below). Of all the streaming platforms, Fox Sports is the easiest and most non-hairpulling app of any of these listed.
CBS Sports is another story. For the longest time they insisted on you buying their streaming service to watch a football game before it was cool for everyone to make you buy their streaming service to watch a football game. Even with a valid TV package, CBS would not let you watch online. CBS has pumped the brakes a bit on this, but if you get Paramount + you can watch your local CBS station. That’s going to set you back $11.99 a month. I have no clue if it will be as simple in 2024 as it was in 2023, but since CBS has ruined many a Sunday for me in the past, I just warn everyone to be aware.
The Apps
NFL+: You can omit this if you don’t care about preseason. If you want to watch the preseason just like I have want to, you will need to pony up $6.99/month. That gets you the two 49ers games. One of them is on FOX but I haven’t found if it’s nationally televised or if it’s only in select markets. I’d lean towards the latter.
NBC/Peaco*ck: Last year, the NBC really hammered a subscription to the service. If you have NBC as part of your TV package (which should be in just about EVERY package), you can just log in through your provider. The issue is the functionality is pretty buggy this way. If you want a better experience, I found using a Peaco*ck subscription (Which I got for WWE programming, as well as getting to watch M3GAN) worked. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone. If you are a new subscriber you can get Premium for $2.99 for the first six months, so sign up in August. If you want to watch other stuff like Law and Order without commercials, Premium Plus will set you back $11.99
ESPN+: This $10.99/month service might be uneccesary. If you already have standard ESPN in your cable package, you can just log into your TV provider and the games should unlock. Notice I said “should”;ESPN’s live feeds are pretty buggy and I frequently hit screens during 2023 games telling me something like this stream wasn’t part of my package (it was). Much like Peaco*ck, it seems to really want you to throw extra cash for the streaming service.
Amazon Prime Video: The 49ers have two games broadcasted on Amazon Prime, so if you’ve avoided the Amazon army of darkness forever, you are only going to get a trial once. You can either get the instant video package for $8.99 a month, or get the full fledge Amazon Prime service that gives you the two-day and same-day shipping for $14.99 a month. For those of you with Walmart + (Walmart’s version of Amazon Prime) you may need to subscribe to two fulfillment services for a month.
NFL Sunday Ticket: $449 without YouTube TV ($72.99 per month—and no, it’s not saving money to add YouTube TV just to get Sunday Ticket). With YouTube TV, the cost is $349. You can either pay that upfront or divide that into four payments. There are ways around Sunday Ticket, the legal ones being going to a sports bar that has the package (or just the 49ers games) or living in an area that gives you the local broadcast.
How this is going to work for the 49ers
If you put it all together, and if my math is correct (and I know I’ll get someone in the comments to tell me I can’t add) cost for all of this will set you back $501.93, not counting the cost of your television package for Fox/CBS. This total cost is also assuming you don’t live anywhere in Northern California that would get you local access (if so, you have a perk to living in the expensive Bay Area—you don’t need Sunday Ticket). I also did this assuming you only bought one month at a time of the other pay services—and the services actually let you off the hook when that time period ends and you cancel in a timely manner. In my experience, cancellations from subscriptions never goes smoothly.
Thankfully, the 49ers aren’t playing on Netflix. So for those of you figuring if you need to get a Netflix subscription as well, you should be in good shape. Unless you want to watch the Christmas games.
The aggravating thing is that the 49ers’ prime time games on the same network are over a month apart, so you’ll need to buy multiple months of Peaco*ck, ESPN, etc.
We’re in May, and the preseason kicks off on August 18. You have roughly three months to save your money.
