Even if NFL preseason games are treated by coaches and stars as—at best—dress rehearsals, fans have shown a hunger to watch. Last year’s nationally televised tune-ups averaged 2.2 million viewers, making the 2025 preseason the most-watched since 2018, according to the league.
In the regular season, those audiences jump close to tenfold. Every NFL game has become a valuable media commodity, with individual matchups sold to streamers for $100 million or more. But the preseason remains relatively unclaimed, and therefore untamed, territory.
While the NFL has grown into a national TV behemoth, its preseason strategy looks more like how MLB, the NBA and the NHL operate, with teams managing regional distribution, punctuated by a few national TV tilts. Add in ESPN’s recent acquisition of NFL Media assets and user confusion over the league’s remaining streaming service, and it’s clear to see why “Who will start under center for the Browns?” isn’t the only question football fans are asking this August.
Teams handle their own preseason game broadcast rights in-market, and most ink deals with local over-the-air networks. Some of those networks stream the games on their digital platforms as well, while other teams deliver feeds directly to fans from their websites and apps. The Rams just announced their games will stream on new sports video hub Bzzr across California, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Australia and Mexico, in what Bzzr called a “first-of-its-kind” agreement.
