How to watch the NFL in Ireland

The NFL in Ireland is a Sunday-night sport with a Monday-morning problem, and the legal version is cheaper than most people think. One free game a week, the Super Bowl for nothing, and a subscription that only needs to run from September to February.

Who has it this season

• Free-to-air Some of it Review
  • Free

  Virgin Media shows at least 22 games a season free, including 18 Sunday-night games, three playoff games and the Super Bowl, to 2028.

• NOW Most of it Review
  • €14.99/day pass A day pass covers one day of it.
  • €38.99/month

  Sky Sports NFL has more than half of all games live, RedZone, the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

• Sky Most of it Review
  • €45/month (12-month contract)

  Sky Sports NFL has more than half of all games live, RedZone, the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Same channels, on a 12-month Sky contract.

Rights and prices checked 2026-09-19. Standard prices; intro offers can be lower.

Virgin Media has the free share: at least 22 games a season, made up of 18 Sunday 9pm games, three playoff games and the Super Bowl, on its channels and on Virgin Media Play, under a three-season deal to 2028. Sky Sports has the bulk: more than half of all games live, including the Sunday double-headers, primetime, RedZone, Thanksgiving, the playoffs and the Super Bowl, on an in-season Sky Sports NFL channel that runs from the regular season to Super Bowl LXI.

NFL Game Pass, sold through DAZN, is the completist’s option: every game, the playoffs and the Super Bowl, with Sky’s Sunday picks delayed 24 hours in the UK and Ireland.

The cheapest way to watch most of it

Virgin Media for the Sunday-night game, through the aerial, costs nothing. If that is your NFL, you are done.

If you want your own team every week, a NOW Sports Month membership from September to February gets you the Sky Sports NFL channel, RedZone and the rest with no contract, and you cancel for March. Six payments. A Sports Day membership covers a single Sunday’s double-header, which suits people who only watch when their team is in the late window.

Game Pass is for the person who wants every game and does not mind the 24-hour delay on the two Sky picks, and it only makes sense as a season purchase.

What’s free

Virgin Media on Saorview and Virgin Media Play: the Sunday 9pm game, three playoff games and the Super Bowl. That is the whole of the Irish free-to-air NFL.

The calendar

• Wednesday 9 September 2026: regular season kicked off, with the champion Seahawks at home in Seattle.
• January 2027: playoffs, three of them free on Virgin Media.
• Sunday 14 February 2027: Super Bowl LXI, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, on Virgin Media and Sky Sports.
• 2027 Dublin game: not announced. Croke Park says it is confident of one; nothing confirmed by the NFL.
• Cancel in March. Nothing happens until the draft, and you do not need a subscription for the draft.

A free game every Sunday, six months of NOW for the rest. Sort me out with the finder, or go straight to the source.

The NOW review covers the app, and a streaming stick puts Virgin Media Play and NOW on any telly. Everything else is on the watch index.