Pentagon to air entire NFL season for free to overseas military

The National Football League will return for another season with the U.S. military, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The Defense Media Activity and the American Forces Network said its overseas audiences will be able to watch the military network's full coverage of the 2024 NFL season, beginning Sept. 5.

AFN will stream the 272-game 2024 season with support from the NFL. All games will on its free television app, AFN Now.

"The NFL's continued partnership and support of U.S. military audiences overseas has been tremendous," said Jim Alexander, director of the AFN Broadcast Center. "The game access the NFL has provided U.S. service members and their families this year is beyond measure and so appreciated by our military forces serving overseas."

AFN Digital Media Chief Kim Antos said coverage will include the playoffs.

"This is our second full season covering the NFL on AFN Now and die-hard military football fans are going to be thrilled," Antos said in a statement. "This year's coverage on AFN Now includes access to the NFL Network's own content, archived games, highlights and analysis, all available anytime."

The 2024 NFL season begins Sept. 5, when the Baltimore Ravens take on the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football. AFN television will air the game live and simultaneously stream it through the AFN Now app.

Viewers are encouraged to download the AFN Now app from the Google Play or Apple App store and register before kickoff.

The AFN Now app will make available NFL games not shown on regular AFN television. Those games will be available as video-on-demand, usually 24 to 48 hours after the game ends, and available for seven days. AFN's overseas audiences can stream those games on up to four devices, including smartphones, tablets, or streaming devices like Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon's Fire Stick.