Detroit Lions Schedule Release: The cost of watching the Lions on TV just took a surprising turn

You don’t need to have a bunch of different streaming services and cable packages to watch the Lions in 2026

Mike Payton — Detroit Lions Beat Writer
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Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) cheer on as he exits the field after 52-21 win over Chicago Bears during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions’ 2026 schedule dropped on Thursday night, and there are a lot of takeaways to talk about from a strength-of-schedule point of view, or that bye week point of view. But there’s one thing that should be of high interest to Lions fans.

It’s significantly cheaper to watch the Lions in 2026

In 2025, you needed to have a lot to watch the Lions play. Just baseline, you need to have cable. There were three games on ESPN and the NFL Network. Two channels that require cable. Then you had to have Netflix to watch the Christmas game, and Amazon Prime to watch the Thursday Night Football game against the Cowboys. That was a lot.

This year, you mostly just need a $20 antenna, and you’re good to go. especially if you live in the Detroit area. Of the 17 games the Lions have this year, 15 of them are on your regular local Fox, CBS, or NBC channels.

There is one game on Amazon Prime, and then there’s one game on ESPN that does not fall into that early-season thing, where Monday Night Football is on both ESPN and ABC at the same time.

Then there’s the thing I mentioned about being in the Detroit area. If you are, you do not need an Amazon Prime account. Your local Fox affiliate will show the Thursday Night Football matchup with the Carolina Panthers. I have heard in the past that you can do this on the west side of the state and other parts of Michigan, but I cannot confirm that this will happen during the 2026 season at this time.

So there you go. You essentially just need a cable package for one game. That’s the Week 16 game against the Giants. If I were you, I’d just go to a friend’s house or watch it at your local watering hole instead of starting a cable package for one game.

Lions fans have to be super happy about that after the pain it was in 2025. It’s a surprising turn of events since the league has recently become all about putting games in 50 different places and letting you, the fan, figure it out.

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