The 2025/26 NFL season kicks-off tonight (September 4) with the first game between Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Dallas Cowboys.
Insider Sport breaks down every broadcast, sponsorship and marketing agreements the NFL has made in preparation for the new season.
Where to watch the NFL?
The Eagles and Cowboys game will be broadcasted live on NBC, as well as on its streaming service Peacock in the US. The game will be available to UK viewers at 12:30am GMT on Sky Sports as the UK sports broadcaster agreed a new mutli-year deal rights deal to retain the NFL in the UK and Ireland.
In the US however, the NFL has split its broadcasting rights packages to several broadcasters generating billions of dollars in revenue.
NBC holds the rights for the Kickoff Game every year until 2033. After the Eagles-Cowboys opening game, NBC holds the rights for every Sunday primetime regular season game, primetime Thanksgiving Day game, one Saturday regular season game, an exclusive regular season game on Peacock, one Divisional playoff game and two Wild Card games this season.
FOX holds the rights for NFC games, including regional coverage on Sundays, one Thanksgiving Day game, one Divisional playoff game and the NFC Championship Game. Alternatively, CBS holds similar rights, but for the AFC.
ESPN/ABC are the broadcast rights holders for the Monday primetime regular season games. They also have rights for the NFL’s final week Saturday doubleheader simulcast; on ABC, one extra regular season game on ESPN+, one Wild Card game on ABC, one divisional playoff game on ABC, and Pro Bowl Games.
After hosting two Christmas Day Games last season, Netflix will continue to show two Christmas Day games this season.
Amazon Prime Video will continue its Thursday Night Football broadcast by showcasing 15 Thursday night games throughout the regular season. Prime Video will also show a Black Friday Game and a Wild Card game.
The NFL has in place an 11-year broadcast rights deal with its broadcast partners, worth $110bn, or $11bn per year, until 2033.
International growth & expansion
The NFL continues its International Series this season with more overseas regular games than ever before.
There will be seven international games during the 2025/26 season; three in London, one in Berlin, one in São Paulo, one in Madrid, and one in Dublin.
The NFL will be hosting regular season games for the first time in Berlin, Madrid and Dublin, expanding its presence in these key markets as part of its internationalisation push.
The game in São Paulo will kick-off the International Series, between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers on September 5. This is followed by the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers game in Dublin on September 28.
The Vikings head to London on October 5 to face the Cleveland Browns, while Denver Broncos and New York Jets also play in London on October 12. Both games will be held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The October 19 London game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Jacksonville Jaguars will be played at Wembley Stadium.
The Berlin game will be contested between the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts on November 9 at the Olympiastadion. The final international game of the season will be held at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu, between the Washington Commanders and Miami Dolphins.
Mr Beast “bought the NFL”?
To heighten interest in tonight’s Kickoff Game, the NFL worked alongside the most subscribed YouTuber in the world, Mr Beast.
Real name Jimmy Donaldson, and with more than 430 million subscribers, Mr Beast appeared in a video alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell where he claimed to have bought the NFL. Of course satire, as the NFL can not be bought and is financed by the 32 team owners.
In the video, Mr Beast assigns an extra roster spot for each of the 32 teams to be filled by a famous YouTuber. This included Sketch trying out for the Houston Texans, and iShowSpeed competing against Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
The video has been published across social media sites such as X and has already received millions of views, engaging the predominantly Gen Z audience on the platform.
New season, different sponsorship engagement
Sponsorships and commercial opportunities go hand-in-hand in US sports, and this will be exemplified during the Kickoff Weekend.
Companies such as Bud Light, Microsoft, Pepsi and Uber Eats are official sponsors of the NFL Kickoff Weekend, while businesses such as Little Caesars and USAA will launch activations outside of game days.
A core focus for the NFL this season in its commercial department is to “bring our gameday experience everywhere we can”, according to David Cohen, NFL Senior Director of Sponsorship and Partnership Management.
NFL Experience will host watch parties across Kickoff Weekend in cities across the globe, including Manchester, Berlin, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Toronto and Brisbane, including local food, entertainment and merchandise.
Marriott has been brought on board to bring the watch party to life in Rio de Janeiro, while Banorte will assist in the deliverance of the watch party in Mexico.
