This really all stems from something that has nothing to do with the Detroit Lions. The thought process really came from talking about the cost of going out to the movies in 2024. It's easily a $50 expense once tickets, popcorn and drinks are purchased. But we don't have to talk about that.
What I really wanted to know was what it would cost Detroit Lions fans to watch every game on the schedule this year vs what it would cost other teams. What I found was that there's a lot of similarity with a few teams that have a higher price tag.
I did this really simple. I found that the average price for cable is $74 a month. We're talking the entry level of cable here. No HBO or Red Zone. Just your average package with the ESPN's and what not. I'm not including internet prices since they're different all over the world.
The NFL regular season is going to stretch from September to the first week of January. So that's at least five months of a cable package. That's $370. Then you get into the streaming services needed like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Peacock and ESPN +. I went entry cost on those too. No ad free stuff.
Prime: $13.99
Netflix: $6.99
Peacock: $5.99
ESPN +: $10.99
I looked at the schedule of all 32 teams and found that the NFL seemed to have scheduled things pretty nicely for most teams. 20 of leagues teams only needed one extra streaming app. Six of them needed two. That led me to find that there's really only five different price brackets. Here's how they break down and who's in what bracket:
$390.98
This bracket is for the teams that have a cable package, but will also require Netflix and Amazon Prime to watch all their teams.
Teams in this bracket: Chiefs, Ravens, Texans and Steelers.
$389.98
This is the Peacock and Prime bracket. There's only two teams in this one.
Teams in bracket: Packers and Eagles
$383.99
This is the big one and this is where the Lions fall. This is the cable and Prime bracket. 20 teams are in this one.
Teams in bracket: Lions, Falcons, Bills, Bears, Bengals, Browns, Cowboys, Broncos, Raiders, Rams, Dolphins, Vikings, Patriots, Saints, Giants, Jets, 49ers, Seahawks, Bucs and Commanders
$380.99
This is the bracket for teams that require cable and ESPN +. That's just two teams.
Teams in bracket: Cardinals and Chargers
$370
The final bracket is for the few teams that don't require having any extra streaming service this season and just require having a cable package to at least watch their NFL Network games.
Teams in bracket: Jaguars, Panthers, Colts and Titans.
So there you have it. The Lions fall into the average cost bracket. That's still nearly $400 if you plan to watch every game since you'll need ESPN for at least one game this year. Everything else will be on local channels. Although it's a lot harder to get those channels thee days since TV's don't come with built in antennas and while there's some apps that show the local channels, they don't show everything that's on TV. That usually means they don't show NFL games.
